Divine Charity(Divine Creek Ranch 18)(124)

“Oh, but I hope you’ll still come home to visit every now and then,” Charity said, noting the way Justine averted her eyes.

“I will. My family made me promise and even though career opportunities may mean a lot of travel, Divine will always be where my heart is,” he said as he clasped his fingers with Justine’s.

“Good,” Charity said, as her men tried to get her attention. Beau and Justine headed off with Noah, joining the rest of the guests as they crowded around her. It was obvious the young men had spent most of their time outside, judging by their deeper tans and their hair, which was sun-streaked and had grown out some on both.

Justin kissed her and said, “The girls have everything ready inside.”

They led her into the expansive living room and a blush came to her cheeks as she remembered racing through the room a month and a half before, being chased by three lusty Vikings. The thought made heat race through her torso and settle in her pelvis. The men had already replaced the ruined petticoat and bra and had even managed to replace the corset strings so she could play with them in the outfit another time.

All of the furniture had been moved out of the way and the rugs had been removed from the hardwood floor.

Grace, who was very heavily pregnant, moved into the center of the living room and beckoned Charity to her as the other girls surrounded her.

After thanking everyone who had been hands on with putting the binding ceremony and reception together, Grace said, “Several years ago, you helped to put together my wedding and reception, an altogether different kind of affair since we were in mixed company with many guests who wouldn’t understand why we would join in a ménage.” She paused as she put her hand on the side of her belly and took in a deep breath. “Sorry. Slugger here wants in on the action, I guess.”

“It’s the sweet sound of your voice, darlin’,” Jack said as he joined her and slipped an arm around her waist.

Grace blushed and caressed his cheek before she continued. “Anyway, we pretended for our guests that it was Jack and I, until the last ‘mainstream’ guest, for lack of a better term, had left. This affair is totally different. Because of the baby, I couldn’t do the legwork on this event. I have all of you to thank for putting everything together. But, sis, I do have something special planned for you.”

She gave a thumbs-up to Ethan, who was in the corner with Dave the DJ, and then said, “I did some research with your men and your first three dances are for Ransome, Val, and Justin, in that order. Everyone feel free to join them, no need to stay on the sidelines watching.”

The guests clapped as Charity stepped forward into the circle of Ransome’s arms as “My Kind of Crazy” by Brantley Gilbert began to play for them.

“The first song we ever slow-danced to?” she asked as he leaned down and kissed her.

Ransome shrugged. “Yeah. I remember watching you at the Dancing Pony that night and thinking it was time for me to suck it up and go for it. Grace asked us what song was important to us and this seemed like the best one, although I was tempted to request the first song I ever saw you dance to.”

“Me?”

“Yes, way back when we were in high school. Remember?”

With big eyes she said, “Oh! I remember. Wow. Really?”

“God, yes.” Ransome growled as he kissed her neck. “You and I had been arguing about who was better, Nirvana or Alice in Chains. Someone put on ‘Come As You Are’ and you started to dance. I decided right then that my favorite group was Nirvana.”

Charity giggled and said, “Liked that, did you?”

“I did, angel. You were dancing in front of the stereo, turning it up louder, refusing to argue with me anymore, and I had a hard-on that didn’t go away for hours.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Good thing there was a throw pillow on the couch. I was afraid you’d notice, or that the other guys would point it out.”

“Wait,” Charity said, pausing in the dance for just a second. “I remember that evening. Um, whoa…” She blushed at the memory.

“What?”

“Good thing there were enough throw pillows to go around,” she finally said. “Wow. Total blonde moment. I thought it was odd that y’all all stopped arguing with me about it.”

He kissed her nose. “You really had no idea?”

“No, I really didn’t. Damn, I was a tease, wasn’t I?”

The fact that she hadn’t understood what was happening at the time made her blush.

“Not intentionally, but I’ll let you make it up to me later tonight,” he murmured as he moved in a turn with her.