Two Good Men Read online

  “I’ll be back with you guys in a minute to take your order,” she said.

  “Are you trying the steak today?” Phillip asked.

  “I think I will. Hopefully it will give me some energy to clean house tomorrow,” she said with a chuckle.

  “We’re starting new projects next week, so we’re looking for a little of that energy, as well,” Jasper said.

  “Okay, guys. What can I get you?” The waitress stood poised with pen and paper.

  They gave her their order with the guys ordering an appetizer of fried onion petals, as well. She lifted her brows as their server hurried away to place their order.

  “They’re really good. It’s hard to resist, and since we need the extra energy…” Phillip shrugged.

  “I’m going to curse you guys when I can’t get my pants over my fat ass,” she complained.

  “Not going to happen. Your ass isn’t that big that a few onion petals will affect it,” Phillip said.

  “Have you been staring at my ass?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “Hey, we’re men. We can’t help but look at your ass. Especially when you’re walking up and down that bar all night. It’s the best sight in the building,” Phillip said.

  “Perverts,” she said, shaking her head.

  Truth be known, it excited her that they were checking her out. And that wasn’t a good thing if she was going to resist the sexy men.

  I never stood a chance with them. Maybe if they’d taken the hint and left me alone I might have, but not now. I’m so screwed.

  “Hey, we’re not perverts, just red-blooded American men who happen to be sexy as hell,” Phillip told her.

  “You’re beautiful, Caro. We can’t help but stare at any part of you we can,” Jasper said. “Besides, your ass is amazing.”

  They chatted about their week over fried onion petals with the guys feeding her from the various dips. She finally waved them away.

  “I won’t be able to do justice to my steak if you keep shoving those in my mouth,” she complained.

  “I didn’t notice that we had to shove them, did you, Phillip?” Jasper asked.

  “No, her mouth opened just like a baby bird every time we dipped on in one of the sauces,” Phillip said with a shake of his head.

  She was saved from having to defend herself by the waitress bringing their meal out to them. The rib eye looked perfect. She couldn’t wait to dig in.

  After asking her if her steak was cooked okay, they all concentrated on eating for the next twenty minutes. This time when the waitress offered dessert, even the guys declined.

  “Those onions filled me up. I almost couldn’t finish my steak,” Phillip told her.

  “Me, too. The food was delicious,” Jasper added.

  “I could take a doggy bag for the rest of mine,” Caro said.

  Once Jasper had paid the bill, the three of them walked outside. She led the way to her SUV, and after unlocking the door, Caro threw in her purse and set the takeout box on the console. Turning around, her belly fluttered at the intense expressions on the two men. She knew they were going to kiss her, and secretly, she couldn’t wait.

  “I really enjoyed the meal, guys. It was wonderful. So was the company and conversation,” she said.

  “Will you let us take you out again next Tuesday night?” Phillip asked.

  “I…”

  “Nothing fancy next week. Just pizza and maybe the other bar in town where we can actually talk and dance,” Jasper said.

  “What are we doing, guys?” she finally asked.

  “Getting to know each other,” he said.

  “Spending time with a beautiful lady,” Phillip added.

  “There’s two of you,” she said.

  “We know.” Phillip sighed. “We told you we shared.”

  “I guess I didn’t really believe you. How exactly does that work?” she asked.

  “Simple really,” Jasper said. “You see both of us at the same time. We share your attention, and eventually we hope to share your bed.”

  “Have you ever thought about how that would look to other people?” Caro asked.

  “Yeah. We don’t really care what other people think. Do you, Caro?” Phillip asked.

  “Not really, but it could cause a lot of trouble.”

  “There’s another threesome that lives up on the mountain. You’ve heard us talk about Caleb and Austin, right?” he asked.

  “Yeah. You did some work for them. Are you saying they’re sharing someone?” she asked.

  “Selena. They’ve been together for about two months now and are happier than pigs in, um, mud,” Phillip said, wincing.

  Caro couldn’t help but laugh as he quickly corrected his words. She knew what he meant. However, did she understand what they were asking? Deep down she did, but could it really work?

  Maybe it would, or maybe in a few months those friends of theirs would end up breaking up. Was she willing to risk her heart by dating the two men at one time? She wasn’t sure. She needed to think about it.

  “I really need to think about this some more, guys. I guess I was concentrating so much on this being a casual friendship that I blocked out the rest. You have to admit that the thought of dating two men at once is a little crazy,” she said.

  “We can understand that it is for you, but we’ve lived with knowing that it was what we wanted for years, Caro. We’re serious about it and don’t want you to think we’ve just come up with this idea out of the blue. There are twelve of us living on the mountain who all believe the same way,” Jasper said.

  “I have to think about it. Maybe we can talk some more about it later,” she suggested.

  “We’ll call you Wednesday to see if you have any questions. Then we’ll plan on Sunday afternoon getting pizza. Will that work for you?” Phillip asked.

  “Yeah. That sounds good.” Caro wasn’t sure she would want to go with them on Sunday, but they could talk more about it on Wednesday night.

  Before she knew what he planned, Phillip pulled her into the circle of his arms and pressed his lips to hers. His mouth was insistent but gentle. When he traced her lips with his tongue, she opened, and he thrust inside, sending tiny chill bumps up and down her arms. Her pussy grew wet as he explored her mouth with intent. By the time he’d stepped back, her legs were shaking and she clung to him.

  “Talk to you soon, Caro,” he said in a husky voice.

  He turned her so that Jasper could take her. She didn’t see how she could take another kiss like that and survive. If they asked her right now, she’d say yes to a threesome, but thankfully, they didn’t. Instead, Jasper nipped at her lower lip until she opened for him.

  He kissed like he meant it, tracing every inch of her mouth and sliding his tongue alongside hers as he slanted his mouth across hers. He wrapped one of his hands in her hair, holding her still as he kissed her like a man in need of more but accepting less.

  Caro’s belly quivered as her pussy grew even wetter. She’d leave a mess on her car seats at the rate they were going. She’d never felt anything like the way they made her feel. None of her previous encounters had ever left her weak-kneed and sopping wet. The way they took control but didn’t force her was sexy as hell and left her wanting more.

  So much more.

  Chapter Seven

  Caro paced from her kitchen to the door across the little living space and back again. It was Tuesday, and the guys hadn’t said when they’d call, but it was nearly six and she hadn’t heard from them. Should she call them? What would she say?

  Despite thinking about nothing else over the last few days, Caro didn’t really have an answer for them. She didn’t really have a lot of questions either. What more could she ask other than how did they know that one of them wouldn’t get jealous of the other or what happened if one of them wanted out? Did they share a bed if things progressed toward that, or did they take turns sleeping with her?

  Cursing, she stomped back toward the kitchen and pulled down a bottle of Crown Royal and poured some into a glass. The first sip burned fire down her throat, but the second wasn’t as potent. She grabbed an ice cube out of the freezer and dropped in the glass.

  She checked her phone once more to be sure it was on and was fully charged and then flopped down on the love seat to try to settle the grasshoppers jumping around in her belly. Her throat had been dry, but with the whiskey making its way into her system, it felt like the Mojave Desert now.

  The sound of someone on the stairs leading up to her apartment had her jumping up with a frown on her face. Who could it be? The landlords hadn’t been up there that she knew of since she’d moved in. She paid her rent on time every month.

  She started toward the door when there was a knock. She picked up her phone and held her finger over the number one, which she had programed for the police and slowly opened the door with the chain still engaged.

  “Phillip? Jasper?” Caro closed the door and slid the chain off before opening the door once more.

  “Hey, babe,” Phillip said.

  “We decided that for something this important we needed to talk face-to-face. Neither of us would be able to gauge our reactions and what we really thought over the phone,” Jasper said.

  “Um, come in.” She stepped back from the door and then closed and locked it once more once they were inside. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “What are you drinking?” Phillip asked.

  “Crown, but I’ve got Jack if you prefer,” she said.

  “Jack would be good,” Jasper said, and Phillip nodded.

  Caro walked over to the kitchen and pulled down the Jack after grabbing a couple of glasses and then poured a generous amount in them. She carried them over, then picked up her own, and sat in the only chair in the room. They sat on the love seat.

  “Hit us,” Phillip said.

  “With questions, Caro,” Jasper said with a chuckle.

  Phillip grinned and shook his head.

  “Won’t you guys get jealous of each other? I mean what if I spend more time with Phillip? How is that going to make you feel?” she asked Jasper.

  “We don’t get jealous. It all balances out in the end, Caro. Just because you spend more time with Phillip for a while doesn’t mean you won’t do the same thing with me later. Knowing that you’re taken care of is what really matters to us,” Jasper said.

  “We don’t keep score of who sees you more than the other, Caro. That’s not how it works,” Phillip said.

  She sipped at her whiskey and then set it on the coffee table. “What if we do decide that we can work through this and somewhere down the line one of you wants out? If I agree to a relationship with you guys, that will hurt.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you’re in a regular relationship or a ménage, it’s still going to hurt. The one good thing about it is that you would still have one of us with you. There’s no guarantee in any relationship though you want to believe it is forever. We aren’t going to commit to anyone unless we expect it to last a lifetime, Caro.” Jasper exchanged a look with Phillip. “We want to give this a try. What about you?”

  “So, we all three date for a while and see if we want to make it more permanent?” Caro asked.

  “That’s about it, babe. We really like you, care about you, and want to have a chance to see where it leads,” Phillip told her.

  “As long as you understand that I don’t know if I can really do this, I’m willing to see where it goes. I’ve been in several relationships over the last eight years, and none of them ended up on a good note. I don’t want that to happen here. I like it here and don’t want to have to leave,” she admitted.

  “Why would you have to leave just because you broke up with your boyfriend?” Phillip asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “Two of my last boyfriends were too demanding and controlling. I don’t have a good track record with men, and with there being two of you, I can’t help but be worried,” she said.

  “Whoa. You don’t have to worry about us being controlling. Yeah, we’re serious about your safety and health, but other than that, we don’t interfere with how you want to live,” Phillip said.

  “If the relationship progresses like we hope, we’ll want to know more about what’s going on with you, but we would never tell you who to see or where to go or what to wear. That’s not how we are, sweetness,” Jasper said.

  “Were they physical with you?” Phillip asked through gritted teeth.

  “No. I left before anything like that could happen. I just knew that I had to leave town or they’d bother me. They didn’t want things to end. I did, so I left town.”

  “Not going to happen with us, babe. If things don’t work out for whatever reason, you’re safe here, and we’ll respect your privacy and space,” Phillip said.

  Caro let out a slow breath. Her chest no longer felt tight. She could breathe around the knot that had been lodged deep in her throat. Maybe this would work. She could give it a try, and if she didn’t like it, she could tell them that it wasn’t working out for her. What was the worst that could happen? She had to move on. She’d done it before and could do it again. She thought they were worth the risk. They’d been nothing but nice to her and had respected her choices. Yeah, they’d badgered her into going out with them, but most men did that if they really wanted to date someone.

  Did she want to date them?

  “Okay. I’m willing to give this a try, but I can’t promise I won’t decide later that it just isn’t for me,” Caro said.

  Both men jumped up and walked around the coffee table to pull her out of the chair tight bear hug. She prayed she hadn’t died into a huge messy mud puddle by saying yes.

  * * * *

  Saturday night proved to be much quieter than the previous one. Still, she was uneasy for some reason. She felt like someone was watching her, and it wasn’t her new beaus at the end of the bar. No matter how many times she scanned the crowd, she couldn’t see anyone watching her or anyone who looked familiar.

  It had to be her imagination. Why would someone be watching her? Probably just nerves now that she’d agreed to date two men. She would be uneasy for a while until she was more comfortable about what it would look like for her to always being seen with both men.

  “You okay, babe?” Phillip asked. It was obvious he was picking up on her disposition.

  “Yeah. It’s just so much quieter than last weekend. Guess it has me waiting for the crowd to pour back in,” she told him.

  “Hey, Caro. Got a drink order down here,” Jill said, waving her hand over the heads of the men at the bar.

  She hurried over and listened and then set up the beer bottles, followed by the shot glasses. She nodded toward the room.

  “Everything going okay out there?” she asked.

  “Wonderful, actually. Don’t know if it’s really this great or if I’m comparing it to last weekend, though,” Jill said.

  Caro chuckled. “I hear you. I keep expecting someone to lunge over the bar for a kiss like last Saturday night.”

  “That was crazy even for here. Your two guys took care of it though. Didn’t even beat him up, just escorted him over to the bouncer. Those are two good men. Whichever one you don’t want, send him my way, would you?”

  “Can’t do that. They’re both mine,” she said and then walked off to prevent the other woman from asking questions.

  Caro had no doubt there would be questions, but she needed to think about what she wanted to say before she had to answer them.

  Again, the nape of her neck tingled as the hairs rose up there. She quickly scanned the crowd, and for a second, she thought she saw someone familiar, but then the crowd moved and they were gone. It had to be her imagination. She was nowhere near Memphis or St. Louis. Why would one of them even follow her? She’d made it crystal clear she wasn’t interested in them anymore. Yeah, they’d bothered her enough to cause her to leave, but it hadn’t been that serious.

  She shook her head. No, she wasn��t going to let them affect her like this. She’d been doing fine. Maybe it was the fact that she’d decided to date again that was doing it. Maybe it was nerves that the same thing would happen again. Only now, there were two men who could get controlling and demanding.

  The first sign that either of them is getting that way, and I’ll break it off with them before it can get too intense. I’m not letting anyone have that much control over me ever again.

  * * * *

  Jill tried to ask her about her previous claim to the two men, but Caro managed to put her off each time by hurrying off to take care of a customer. She hoped the other woman wouldn’t bring it up around the other women once they closed. She really wasn’t ready to elaborate. Why had she claimed them like that? Was she the one becoming possessive?

  The rest of the night passed without incident, and when they announced last call, the crowd slowly thinned until there were only a few stragglers nursing their drinks because they didn’t want to go home and her two men.

  “We’ll wait for you by your car, sweetness,” Jasper said.

  Phillip reached over the bar and squeezed her hand. “See you in a few.”

  They followed the last two guys out the door, and then Curly closed and locked up. He shook his head in her direction before he helped the girls swing the chairs over the tables so they could sweep and mop.

  Caro finished her duties and waited by the back door for Curly to show her out along with the waitresses. He finally returned, unlocked the door, and walked with them out to their cars. He left her with Jasper and Phillip while walking the other three to their cars.

  “You look beat, babe,” Phillip said.

  “I feel it, but it was a good night.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around him when he pulled her toward him.

  She realized it was becoming easier to accept their attentions already. Maybe she’d been fooling herself that she could have resisted them much longer. They were two very sexy, very caring men. She could do a lot worse and had.

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