Love Under Two Detectives Read online

  “I do believe that’s one of our treasured principles here in Lusty,” Samantha said.

  Then it was his turn—well, his and Toby’s—to get some of their own practice in. The women stood back, silent and observant. The first round did unnerve him, some. That in itself was weird because he was used to being observed. He reckoned it was the who that was doing the observing that made him feel that way. But by the time he was emptying his second clip into the target, he’d found his focus, his zone, and had almost forgotten he and his partner weren’t alone.

  Grandma Kate pointed out a small tic he hadn’t realized he’d had, and Anna Jessop made a suggestion to Toby that his partner took to heart.

  Another day in the life of Lusty, Texas. He would have to return to work in Waco, eventually, but he was beginning, more and more, to think of this town as home.

  Chapter Eleven

  February seemed to fly by, and Mary marveled that after more than thirty years living in New York State, life here in Lusty seemed…normal. Easy.

  It seems like home.

  Now, on the very cusp of March, Mary couldn’t say she was sorry to be in Texas instead of New York. She did not miss the snow and ice of her native state, not one bit.

  She stretched as she looked at the clock at the bottom right of her computer screen. The guys would be finished their shift soon. It took about an hour for them to drive here from Waco. She’d offered to go to the larger city with them, so they wouldn’t have the daily commute.

  They’d both confessed to her that they preferred to stay in Lusty. Who could blame them?

  There was something about Lusty that reached right in and touched the heart. Touched it? More like wrapped a loving fist around it and said, “Stay.”

  Mary closed her computer down for the day. She’d written more, and better, since she’d come to live in this small Texas town than she had in a long, long time. She knew it had as much to do with the two men who were not only nestling her between them each night. They’d also done something no other man had ever done. They’d settled themselves snugly within her heart.

  I’d just about come to the point of getting a lot of cats. Mary mentally laughed at herself. She had figured she’d be single for the whole of her life. Though she hadn’t heard of many women on the Kendall side of the family making that choice, she was aware there had been at least one Benedict who had, because she was currently living in that woman’s former house.

  Mary headed into the kitchen and set about making supper. She’d already decided that the best thing to do, most nights, was to have something to serve that, if necessary, could be either kept warm for an hour or more or turned off and reheated. So far, the guys weren’t delayed coming home very often. And only once had they been called in on a day off. Waco had its share of crime, but Anthony and Toby, despite being police detectives, weren’t overworked. For the most part, they could look forward to uninterrupted scheduled days and evenings off.

  Mary got to work, preparing a hamburger hash that the guys seemed to enjoy. Since they each took turns when it came to supper, they each got to taste different regional dishes— the regions being New York, Texas, and Wyoming.

  The first supper she’d made for them, after they’d decided to take turns and make food from their childhood, was corned beef and potato pancakes. Anthony had followed up with chicken enchiladas. He said he went light on the chilies, and she believed him despite the heat of the dish. It pleased her that she’d handled the spices. Toby’s first offering had been something he called frybread. They’d had it for breakfast on a Sunday morning, served with honey. She’d liked that, a lot.

  They each kept note of the meals that seemed to go over the best. Of course, they also would dine out at both Lusty Appetites and Angel’s Roadhouse. And they would make their own meals, together, too. Those were the best times of all.

  As she cooked, Mary dared to let her mind wander. She’d done a pretty good job of compartmentalizing everything that was going on in the world outside of Lusty. Of course, some of what was happening out there was happening in here, too.

  While Cody Harper had been spared any virus symptoms and had tested negative, his husband, Greg, hadn’t been quite as lucky. Mary knew that he hadn’t needed a ventilator, but it had been close. Now recovering, he was resting at home with Cody and Rebecca. He remained weak but was gaining strength each day.

  Rebecca told her that Cody had become Greg’s nursemaid, and at one point he’d apologized for what he himself had put Greg through, just before they’d come to Lusty and in the weeks immediately after. Mary had heard the story, of course, from Aunt Samantha at the time.

  Cody, a photojournalist, had been kidnapped and held prisoner for several days in the Middle East. He’d nearly died from the untreated gunshot wound he’d received when he’d been taken—kidnapped in a plot engineered by another journalist who’d considered Cody a rival. That man was still behind bars and would be for some time to come. Apparently, Greg had been Cody’s nursemaid, as he’d recovered from that and PTSD.

  The Jessops—Paul, Lucas, and Wesley and their wife, Kat—had returned from California and gone into quarantine for fourteen days. When the quarantine was done, they’d returned to their home here in Lusty, having tested negative the entire time.

  Cousin Christopher was settled in town, in his new house that she’d helped to furnish. He, too, had stayed isolated for the prescribed period of time and had also tested negative for the virus.

  Her own family not currently in Lusty—those still in New York State—were beginning to circle the wagons. Her uncles and their families all lived close to each other, each having bought good-sized properties an hour outside of Albany, as well as a large “farm” used for family vacations within a short drive of each of their homes.

  There was enough room in that enormous old farmhouse for all of the Kendalls left in New York, and as she’d guessed they would, that was where they’d chosen to hunker down. The Kendalls of New York tended to be a thrifty lot. Her uncles and her father recalled growing up with a single mom and taking in her lessons on stretching those dollars.

  The fact that none of them had to do that anymore had nothing to do with anything. To this day they were careful, and she knew that in that farmhouse, in what they called the “utility kitchen” the three freezers, two fridges, and dozens of shelves would be chock full of enough supplies to get them through several months, if necessary. She’d also been assured they had access to testing supplies, as well as medical personnel who could be summoned and utilized if necessary.

  Beyond Lusty, in points northeast and northwest of this great country, things were not going as well.

  Mary sighed and tucked those thoughts away. She ignored her inner voice that told her she wasn’t really dealing with things.

  She set a lid on the skillet and turned the burner down to between low and medium. In twenty minutes, supper would be ready. She planned to turn it off for a bit once cooked, fully believing that allowing a stove-top casserole to “rest” improved its taste. While supper simmered, she set the table and then poured herself a glass of tea.

  Mary let her mind wander to pleasant locales as she looked out the kitchen window, the tiny one over the sink with a nice view of the driveway and the house next door.

  She recalled moving to New York City from her rural home and the excitement she felt, living in the greatest city on earth. In those early times, she’d believed she’d be a New Yorker for life. She never would have imagined feeling at home, here in a small house in a small town in Texas.

  Of course, she never could have imagined being attacked in her own home, either. Mary worked hard at yanking her thoughts away from the dark, back to the light. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to do. An expression she used from time to time flitted across her mind, making her smile. Yep, it’s true. Writers are, by nature, neurotic.

  And then she was saved from herself when the door opened and a voice reached her, the sound coming closer with each w
ord.

  “Something smells really good in here. Well, a couple of somethings, actually.” Anthony was the first through the kitchen door, and he raised his eyebrows and sent Mary a lascivious grin.

  “If I smell, period, sweet cheeks, that means I need a shower.”

  “Not as far as we’re concerned,” Toby said. “But a shower for three sounds like a damn fine appetizer—for our main course and for dessert. Let’s have dessert first.”

  He didn’t have to explain what he meant by that. Supper was ready, so she took the few steps necessary to reach the stove and turned the burner off. Here’s another great reason to make a one-pan supper that will keep.

  And one, if she were honest, that she usually hoped for by this point in their day.

  There was just something so decadent, yet so comforting about showering with Anthony and Toby. She’d always been one to soak up her water time. Perhaps in another reality she’d been a sea nymph. One of the sirens of old who’d lured the sailors from their ships? Hopefully not.

  Then the glide of wet, soapy hands from behind, the cupping of her breasts, the tugging on her nipples, pulled her out of her head and into the best version of reality ever. This, she never could have conjured in her imagination. This, this was paradise.

  There was only hot, wet need and the steam that cocooned them in its midst.

  Flesh on flesh, lips that mated, released, and were captured again. Over and over, lover then lover and back again so that words became impossible and, frankly, unnecessary.

  Mary reached out both hands, stroked, grasped, pumped. The water misted down, and the ballet of passion they performed to music felt if not heard eclipsed grace.

  Then deeper, sharper, as need slid down the drain with the bubbles, leaving a keen and feral desperation behind.

  Drying now, flying now, she mewed as the bed cradled her while her lovers feasted.

  Toby kissed his way down her body, suckling here, licking there, until she writhed against him on his trail with Anthony beside her, holding her. The sounds emerging from her soul, wordless but never meaningless, let her lovers know she hungered.

  When Toby covered her cunt with his mouth, she arched into him, bowing off the bed as her first orgasm slammed into her. Pure heat, pure arousal, wave after wave of sizzle consumed her, transformed her. She shivered and reached but found her hands captured, held—freeing her.

  They moved, these two men, traded places and their hold of her. Toby’s hands clasped her wrists and stretched her arms over her head. Truly captured, she turned her head to mate her mouth with his. She drank down their essence, a newly craved ambrosia.

  Mary kept her mouth mated with one lover as the other continued to kiss her in a more erotic, deeply sexual way. Fires that had already reached their zenith had gone to embers, only to begin to roar once more.

  Her whimpers were as involuntary, as were the trembles that shook her. Masculine grunts, vibrating against both sets of lips, drove her even higher.

  “Come again, woman. Come hard.”

  Anthony’s words vibrated against her sopping folds and lit her fuse. She cried out as rapture bathed her a second time, the cascade of pleasure so mind numbing she convulsed, held in its grip, yet soared above the sun.

  Her men moved again. Between her legs, Anthony knelt for just a moment then lifted her hips, leaned in, and buried himself deep, deep within her. She met his glittering gaze, and when he looked to her left, she couldn’t help but follow his lead.

  There, a mere inch from her face, teasing her sensibilities, tantalizing her taste buds, Toby’s naked cock, hard, with a tiny jewel of precum, beckoned her. She glanced up at his hungry, begging expression.

  Mary licked her lips then opened her mouth.

  The heat of his cock, the velvet softness over steel, the succulent taste, shot her arousal to an unbelievable height. Still captured under the strength and the ardor of these two lovers, Mary reveled in her captivity as she relished the pleasure that they poured upon her.

  Thrusting heat in her pussy created friction and shivering thrills. A slowly plunging mass that filled her mouth whetted her appetite for more. She took all they gave her, swallowing and wallowing, suckling and clenching, caring only to shower them with the same pleasure, the same electric excitement they’d lavished on her, twice.

  “Yes!” Toby’s one word triggered her saliva, letting her know his seed approached. And when his cock flexed, when he gave a strangled cry of joy, she drank him down. With each swallow she pulled in on her pelvic floor muscles, a rhythmic spasming that made the cock in her cunt grow and heat and, finally, fantastically erupt.

  Anthony threw his head back, his groan of completion a thrilling, filling sound to her feminine soul. He reached down, eyes still closed, and grasped her clit between thumb and forefinger. The pinch, slow yet fierce, tossed Mary into ecstasy once more.

  Electrifying, endless ecstasy.

  Mary knew she’d dozed, because she rose slowly into wakefulness, into the deep happiness of being snuggled between her lovers. Toby spooned her, with Anthony’s chest her pillow. A light kiss graced her shoulder, evoking a sigh she could have sworn came from the deepest part of her soul.

  The scent of their bodies, the three of them together, a combination of soap, sweat, and sex formed one of her favorite aromas. Mary clung to the bliss of this moment, to the warm and secure sensation of belonging.

  “Are you hungry, cupcake? Want to eat?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Mary grinned against Anthony’s chest. Then she showed them that she had moves, too.

  She slithered down, taking the blankets off both men, until she found Anthony’s cock—hot, hard, and oh, so juicy.

  Her tongue licked him, sac to tip, and then she took him in. His flavor comforted and aroused and fed a need in her she could barely articulate. She used all the skills they’d taught her to lick, to stroke, to suck, moving her head up and down, using her hand to grasp and squeeze and pump. Another time, she’d take her leisure and drive him slowly mad.

  That time was not now. Now was for hot and fast and seismic. She felt Toby move, giving her more room. Mary levered herself up, her ass in the air, and put all her attention on the luscious cock in her hand and her mouth.

  She sucked on him, strong, prolonged draws that elicited those deep groans of anticipation she loved hearing. Over and over, she pleaded with him to surrender his essence to her. And when her fingers caressed his balls, when she felt his shivers, and then his tension, she squeezed those balls as she treated him to one long, final draw, sucking him in deep.

  His semen exploded from him, and she worked her throat muscles to swallow, no thought but to give him succor and to take his cum. Spasm after spasm caressed her throat—and totally wrecked her lover.

  Slick, hot fingers caressed over her anus, a few fast, little rubs that shot her arousal from sleeping to ready in an instant. And then one long finger pressed against her rosebud and pushed.

  The burn, the heat, the thrill… Mary’s mouth slipped from Anthony’s cock as she cried out in orgasm. As sharp and fast had been the one she’d just given one lover, so her other lover had treated her to the same delight. This climax was intense and touched every single erogenous zone, including some she hadn’t truly known she had.

  Mary collapsed on Anthony’s thighs. The sensation of Toby’s gentle stroke down her back and his kiss on her ass comforted in a uniquely sensual way. She placed sweet, gentle kisses on Anthony’s thighs, one and then the other, and then laid her cheek there, right there where she could inhale the wonder of Anthony’s now flaccid cock while she met the indulgent and loving gaze Toby gave her.

  “Dear God in heaven, we’re going to kill each other.”

  Mary grinned slowly at Anthony’s near breathless words. She placed one more kiss, this one on his navel, which seemed to make his cock stir.

  “Not a bad way for us to go,” she said.

  “Not a bad way at all.” Anthony drew her up and kissed her, using h
is tongue to sweep, caress, and drink. Then he actually handed her to Toby. That man drew her down and mated his mouth to hers. He ended their too-short kiss with a stroke of her hair that ended in his cupping her face.

  “Let’s go heat up and devour that wonderful supper you made us. And as we eat, we have news to share.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I’d like to get my hands on the asshole,” Anthony said. “He fucking set the car on fire in the middle of a farmer’s field.” He’d been livid when he’d gotten the phone call from Adam earlier.

  When Mary just tilted her head and looked at him, he knew she didn’t understand the reason their tracker’s action pissed him off.

  “Um…winter wheat?”

  Now he didn’t understand.

  “What’s winter wheat?”

  “This time of year about the only crop in a farmer’s field, in New York State.”

  Anthony shook his head and then gave her a smile. For equal measure, since his tone had been scathing when he’d bitched, he picked up her hand and kissed it. “No, baby. Around here, the one thing you don’t want to do is start a fire in a field. It could end up covering a few dozen to a few hundred square miles or so as a wildfire.”

  “In February?” Mary’s face revealed her surprise.

  “It’s happened. We tend to be very fire conscious here in Texas,” Anthony said. He flipped through his memory then latched onto a long-ago heard fact. “Kind of like up north, they string snow fencing. Y’all never know if there’s going to be a ton of snow or not, right? But you string the fencing, every year, regardless.”

  “As a precaution. Okay, I get that. Snow fencing, huh?”

  “Yes, but I’ve never seen one, and I have no clue how they work. I just heard about them once,” Anthony said.

  Mary frowned. “I have seen them, and I’m not sure of the physics of how they work, just that they do.”

  Toby sighed in what Anthony immediately knew was an overly dramatic way. Then he shook his head and took on an expression that looked…professorial.