“Yeah. We’re thinking we’re going to make it stick here in Divine. How’s the little man?”
Rachel pulled out her phone to show him a picture of two-year-old Levi sitting with his father astride Eli’s Harley. “Growing like a weed.”
He could feel Charity’s gaze on him as he smiled and said, “How’re you ladies doing? Grace, you hanging in there?”
Grace patted her abdomen. “This one’s tiring me out but I’m doing well, thanks. It’s good to hear you’re moving into the area. Have you found a place to stay yet?”
He took the opportunity to gently lay his arm around Charity’s shoulders and felt the tremble that ran through her as a result. “We’re bunking out at Justin and Charity’s for now.”
Grace beamed and said, “I’m sure they’re happy to have you.”
Ransome nodded and then turned his gaze on Charity. She bumped his ribs lightly with her elbow and asked, “You two having a good time?” With just her velvety voice she could make his cock tingle.
“Yeah. Want to dance?”
Charity slid a quick glance Grace’s way before looking up at him and nodding. “I’d love to.”
All the ladies at the table smiled broadly and Ransome felt like a bug under a microscope but was content that she’d accepted his invitation. The vocals and guitar started for the next song and Charity looked up at him, nibbling her lip as “My Kind of Crazy” by Brantley Gilbert played on the sound system.
He wasn’t going to complain if the DJ had picked a slow dance song, and this one seemed just right for Charity. He spotted Val watching them in the mirror but didn’t concern himself with Val’s worry about ruining the status quo. Ransome was listening to his gut this time.
She turned to face him on the dance floor and he thought he glimpsed uncertainty in her eyes. They’d always danced to fast songs before, and he wasn’t sure he’d have gotten away with this if Justin was around. But she smiled and slid her arms around his waist without hesitation. He struggled to keep his breathing steady as the girl—the woman—he’d wanted practically all his life snuggled to him.
He’d never held her close during a slow dance but he’d watched her make love to her husband. Feelings were all jumbled up inside him. Maybe the dance was a mistake, but as they moved together, flowing into a swaying rhythm, he wanted it to last for hours instead of minutes. Her breasts and hips rubbed against him as she moved and she rested her cheek on his chest. His breath left him in a soft shudder as he felt her fingers thread through his long hair, awakening nerve endings all over his body. If she kept up the pleasurable sensation he was going to start tapping his foot against the floor.
To distract himself from the tingling in his groin, hoping to forestall the inevitable reaction to her lush, curvy body, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Grace seems like she’s settled in really well.”
In the time he’d known her, Grace had grown from a shy, rather bookish teen to a happy and fulfilled wife in a ménage. A ménage like the one he wanted with Charity, with men who were devoted to loving her and taking care of her.
“You mean with the second baby coming?”
“Well, yeah, but I also meant in general. Things must be going smoothly for her with Jack, Ethan, and Adam. At least that’s how it seems…like they take good care of her. They look happy is what I mean.” Stop talking, dummy.
Charity nodded without lifting her head. “They are. It’s not all fluffy kitten hugs and glittery unicorns but they’re very good to her. She’s good to them. It works. They’re all pretty even-tempered.”
He grunted and then chuckled. “You saying that makes me think of Lucy with Beck and Patrick at the ROT Rally last year.”
Charity drew a sharp breath and giggled. “Yeah, I guess that’s the other extreme, as far as blending temperaments in a ménage. But Lucy can hold her own with the two of them. Jayne was the one who surprised me, though. You remember how she strutted up into Beck’s personal space and told him to calm the fuck down? That was priceless, coming from my demure little cousin, the librarian. But Lucy handled the situation well, too. She’s got a lot of fire in her.”
“You relate to that, don’t you?”
Charity shrugged. “I guess. Beck and Patrick are important to Lucy, but she didn’t have to give up a part of herself in order to be with them.”
He pondered her words for a minute and wondered what was on her mind before he said, “I think those groups work because the right woman in the middle of it all makes it worth it…makes it possible. Did you ever picture a situation like that for your sister, before she met the guys?”