Love Under Two Kendalls Read online

  “It does?”

  Could anyone invoke a tone of wonder like a curious child? Adam didn’t think so.

  “Go on over to our room and open that door, Benny,” Ginny said.

  Almost super excited, Benny raced out one unit, and then right into the next. It took the little guy only a few moments to fumble with the lock and then open the connecting door.

  “Hi Jake! Hi Adam! This is cool. It’s like we’ve got one big room and we’re all staying together!”

  “Yes, indeed,” Jake said. “It’s like we’re all staying together.”

  Adam and his brother both chuckled, because Ginny’s face had gone beet red. He couldn’t resist giving her a hug, and neither, apparently, could Jake.

  “I like that there’s a sitting area that’s a separate room from the bedroom,” Adam said. “That means we can…watch television and not wake Benny.”

  Ginny surprised him when she gave him a light punch in the arm. “Behave, Sheriff.”

  “I’m not a sheriff here, Ginny Rose. I’m just a man.” He swooped in and stole a quick kiss. It was all he could do to keep the caress light.

  “Adam Kendall, you’re a sheriff to the bone everywhere, all the time.”

  Ginny’s words warmed him. He often thought of all the things he knew about the pretty brunette—and what he knew was quite a bit. So it was nice to know she’d been paying attention and learning him, too.

  “I think the lady has your number, bro,” Jake said. “Mine as well, come to think of it.”

  “She has a hell of a lot more than that.” Adam kept his gaze locked with Ginny’s so she would see his desire for her.

  “Isn’t that the truth?” Jake’s tone dipped.

  Adam liked seeing the look of shy pleasure on Ginny’s face in response to their flirting. Whether she realized it or not, she’d come a long way in a few months.

  She shook her head in a gesture that Adam thought of as typical Ginny. That tiny shake, with her head tilted slightly to the right seemed to say, “Just what am I going to do with you?” If she would just put that thought into words, he’d tell her, in very hot and sexy detail, exactly what she could do with them.

  She looked from him to Jake. “Oh, you two!”

  Jake reached out and touched her hand. Adam saw her shiver and understood what that shiver meant.

  They were getting to her. She was as attuned to the sexual vibes between them as they were.

  Adam couldn’t help it. He sent her what felt like a smug look and said, “Yes, sweetheart. We two.” He took a step closer to her. He lowered his voice, not only to be more intimate, but also to keep his words from intriguing young ears.

  “Tonight, after Benny’s asleep, will you let us play with you?”

  She licked her lips, and Adam had to use every bit of willpower at his disposal to keep his cock from exploding into a raging hard-on.

  Ginny’s voice, just as low, and very sultry, caressed his flesh. “Just what do you mean by ‘play?’”

  Not a no, thank God. He leaned in just a little bit more. “A little kissing, a little exploration. What my folks used to refer to as heavy necking and petting. And, Ginny?” He waited until she met his gaze. “You’re in control, baby. Always. And the moment you want to stop, you say stop.”

  “Even if you’re so horny you think…” She stopped talking, and Adam didn’t need to be a shrink to know she’d gone back to another time, and another man.

  “Baby, I could be leaking pre-cum all over the damn place, and if you say stop, I will.”

  “What he just said.” Jake reached out again and stroked her hair, just once. “That’s a promise, and Kendalls always keep their promises.”

  Ginny looked down for a moment before lifting her head to meet their gazes in turn. On her face bloomed the sweetest smile he’d ever seen.

  “All right. Maybe…if it’s not too cool out tonight, we could spend some time alone, together out on the balcony. Benny’s had a pretty full day. I reckon he’ll be down for the count before nine, and he tends to sleep very soundly.”

  She didn’t flinch from their stares, as if willing them to see her eagerness.

  Did she think if she kept them to the deck they wouldn’t be tempted to persuade her to take them inside her sweet body?

  He looked at his brother. They both were thinking the same thing. Ginny’s sexual horizons were about to be expanded, dramatically.

  Chapter 6

  The bitch has to be somewhere.

  Deke scanned the sidewalk, left and right, as if the answer he sought was out there waiting for him to discover. He hated staying huddled in Jer’s car. When he got his hands on Ginny, she was going to pay for making him behave like a fucking fugitive.

  The driver’s door opened, and Deke tensed, because he’d let his mind wander. But it was just Jerry, sliding in behind the steering wheel. “That fucking super of yours was no help at all. He said, ‘Miss Rose didn’t leave a forwarding address,’ all snooty-like.” Jerry started the car, let it idle and turned to face him. “I’ve got a pretty good bullshit detector on me. Prick wasn’t lying. He really doesn’t know where your woman went. Now where do you want to look? How about her girlfriends? These bitches always have their little girlfriends they like to cling to. Gossip is as necessary as breathing to them.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. But Ginny was different. She didn’t have any close girlfriends.” It was one of the things about her he’d liked best. No close girlfriends meant no one could tell her she shouldn’t let him treat her the way he fucking well wanted to treat her. No close friends meant she was one lonely little honey just waiting for someone to pay attention to her.

  Damn it to hell, he’d almost had Ginny Rose completely under his control. Didn’t she go to work every damn day and hand over her pay at the end of the week like a good little slave?

  He knew Jerry was waiting for him to come up with a bright idea. Deke focused hard, recalling the months he’d been with Ginny. She’d spent so much of her time and energy on that sniveling bastard of hers. He should have worked at separating them a lot sooner. Hell, every day when she came home from work, first thing she did was head for that kid. Work. Yeah, she still has to work, doesn’t she? And even if she’s not at the coffee shop anymore, she would have had someone call for a reference, wouldn’t she? “We could try the coffee shop where she worked. Let’s go there. It’s over on—”

  “I remember where it is. You took me there once, remember?”

  Deke had almost forgotten what a primo memory Jer had. Tell the man something once, and he practically had it in his brain forever.

  He sometimes wondered why his friend’s brain didn’t fucking explode with all the crap he had to have in it.

  “Okay, yeah.” He continued to scan the area as Jer pulled out into mid-morning traffic. “The bitch in charge, her name is Mary Jane. I think she maybe had a soft spot for Ginny. At least that’s how it seemed to me. Anyway, you’ll recognize her straight off. She’s gotta be seventy if she’s a day, with hair that looks like straw, sticking out of the black hairnet she always wears.”

  Mary Jane had never liked him. Anytime he’d come into the coffee shop, she’d avoided him—and that was before he’d hooked up with Ginny. She sure as hell hadn’t liked it when he’d started sweet-talking Ginny, either. His bitch had never said, but he was pretty certain Mary Jane had bad-mouthed him from the first moment he set his sights on her.

  Waco traffic typically crept and sputtered along. Deke flexed his hands, making fists, relaxing them, imagining he had someone to vent his growing temper on.

  He’d been so sure finding Ginny was going to be easy. Hell, he’d figured by this time, those damn charges would have been dropped and he’d have his life back.

  Finally Jer managed to snag a parking spot about a block south of the café.

  “I won’t be long,” the man said. “I’m going to pretend to be her cousin, on her daddy’s side. You said she hadn’t heard from her daddy in
years. Well, cousin Jerry here is bringing bad news about the passing of old Joe Rose.”

  “Fuck, Jer, that’s fucking brilliant. I can’t imagine even that hard-ass Mary Jane would refuse to help you out under those circumstances.”

  Jerry gave him a big smile. “Just leave it to me, Deke. I’ll find out where your bitch is. Tell you the truth, I’m starting to get pissed off at her, myself. I think when we finally get our hands on her, I’m going to give her ass a hard and fast reaming with my cock that she won’t soon forget.”

  “We get our hands on her, I sure as hell will not only let you, I’ll help you. Woman has to learn her place. And that place is to not have her man charged and put him through the wringer like this.”

  “You were too easy on her,” Jerry said. “I hope this has been a lesson for you.”

  “Fucking A.” Deke had already been planning on how things were going to be different. He had no love for Texas. He was going to move them to Louisiana. But first, he’d find a buyer for the kid. He knew a guy who’d give him top dollar for a good-looking kid like that. Have the little bastard out of the country before Ginny came to.

  Yes, then he’d get her cooperation for a while telling her that following his commands to the letter would be the only way for her to get her son back. By the time she learned the truth, it wouldn’t matter to her anymore.

  Jer would help him see to that.

  Deke let his thoughts dwell on Ginny Rose, on what he was going to do to her as soon as he caught up with her. He let himself imagine the pleasure he’d take from her body, both with his cock and his belt. He’d make her suck him off while he watched Jer take her ass. That would be sweet. His cock started to get hard, and Deke grinned. Yeah, Ginny was going to spend a lot of time on her knees trying to make up for all the shit she’d pulled on him.

  He kept his gaze fastened on the rearview mirror, to the spot down the street when Jer had disappeared into the coffee shop. Wasn’t anyone he knew could sweet-talk the way Jerry Stone could. Sometimes, it was a real pleasure to watch the man work.

  Deke blinked, because Jer had appeared on the sidewalk. He wasted no time heading for the car and—crap—his bud did not look happy.

  “That fucking old cunt.” He slammed the door and looked over at Deke. “Get down. I’m getting us the hell out of here.”

  “What?”

  “Do it. She said she was going to call the cops, and I sure as hell wouldn’t put it past her to do just that.”

  Deke swore as he scrunched down, half kneeling on the floor of the front seat.

  “What the hell went wrong?”

  “Damned if I know. She accused me of being in cahoots with ‘that prick Deke Walters.’ The bitch sure doesn’t like you, buddy. Of course I tried to act appropriately confused. I could see things were going for a shit, so I brushed her off. When she threatened to call the cops, I told her that I’d probably have better luck finding my cousin Ginny if I went to the cops myself, and that I should have done that in the first place instead of thinking some old woman would help me out. I even hinted that I’d tell them she was, in my opinion, acting suspicious. They’d likely end up coming around wondering what she had to hide. I think that gave her pause, but I’m not sticking around to find out.”

  True to his word, Jer maneuvered the car with precision, the swift motions of the vehicle tossing Deke left, and then right. Jer sped for a few minutes, and then cut his speed back.

  “Okay, I think we’re clear. I’m driving us back through your old neighborhood. Maybe you can think of somewhere else, or someone else, might be able to give us some info.”

  Deke shoved himself off the floor and back onto the passenger seat. “The only other place I can think of is the bar where I used to hang.” Deke looked at his watch. “This time of day, a few of my pals should be there. Old Mac tends bar, most nights. He also knows everything about everyone. If he don’t know where she is, no one does.”

  Deke argued long and hard and finally won the right to go into the bar with Jer. He agreed to keep on the ball cap he’d been wearing, and the pair of shades Jer had pulled out of the glove compartment.

  “Old Mac will never rat me out to the cops, and if he knows anything, he’ll tell his good buddy, Deke.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears, Deke. Because so far, we ain’t got jack shit.” Jer rolled down his window and spat.

  Deke knew he was right. They’d go in, grab a beer, and chat with old Mac. Then they’d head to wherever that bitch, Ginny Rose, had run away to.

  * * * *

  Adam held her chair for her, helping her to get seated comfortably while Jake preformed the same service for Maggie.

  Maggie thanked Jake for the courtesy, and then chuckled. “I just realized that I’ve brought a couple of Texans to a steakhouse. What was I thinking?”

  Ginny hid her smile behind her menu. Having worked in several different eateries, she’d felt completely at ease when they entered the Blue Water Grille. She also liked the way her new relative seemed to be getting along with her men.

  Ginny’s heart thudded in her chest when she realized that she really did consider Adam and Jake Kendall to be her men.

  “Texans don’t think there’s any such thing as too much steak,” Jake said. “Although I will allow that we do tend to think that ours is the best.”

  Maggie tilted her head to the side. “Well, it did seem to me that you just said the word ‘Texans’ as if it was written in all uppercase letters.”

  Ginny laughed. “Our men do tend to have more than their share of pride.” She looked from one Kendall to the other. “In the case of present company, it’s pride that’s well justified.”

  “Texas is the best state,” Benny said. Then he looked at Maggie. “But I like New Jersey, too. Mom and me had fun on the beach today.”

  “I looked out now and again, and I could see you were having a lot of fun.”

  A server came by and poured water into everyone’s glasses. Ginny looked back down at the menu. “They seem to have a lot of other selections here, too, including seafood.” Which Ginny would expect every restaurant in this seaside town to offer. She’d rarely had the opportunity to try any. Kelsey had told her that she’d tried to serve seafood chowder on Friday nights when she first opened Lusty Appetites, but the dish hadn’t fared very well.

  The good people of Lusty didn’t mind a bit of freshwater fish caught in the local streams, lakes, and rivers now and again. Many of the denizens liked to fish themselves, especially on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and most ate what they caught—ate it or released it. But in general, they hadn’t yet cottoned to ocean fish overmuch.

  “It may come as a surprise to you, Miss Ginny, that Jake and I both, on occasion, eat seafood.”

  Ginny felt one eyebrow go up, a reaction she couldn’t easily prevent. She was surprised to learn that.

  “Mama says it’s good to try new things. Maybe it sounds funny when you hear what it’s called. But you can’t judge a thing by its name. You have to give it a fair try.”

  “Is that right?” Jake’s voice, filled with amusement, matched his devilish grin. Oh, the light in his green eyes—eyes that were so much like his mother’s—let her know what thoughts were on his mind, and they sure weren’t about food.

  “I’d say that was an exceptionally good, forward-thinking tenet.” Adam’s grin, similar to Jake’s, stirred her, arousing her when all her life she’d been convinced that sexual arousal was just something she’d never be able to enjoy.

  Benny’s father had called her frigid, and so had Deke. She’d long accepted the truth of the matter.

  Benny’s voice pulled her back to the present. “What’s a tenant?”

  “A tenant is a person who rents their apartment from someone who owns it.”

  Ginny chuckled at the confused look on Benny’s face. Maggie had answered his question in earnest, despite the fact that she looked about ready to explode with laughter. The men looked suitably chagrinned. Then Adam p
ut his arm along the back of her son’s chair so that he could bend down closer to the boy.

  “The word I used was ‘tenet.’ It means theory, or belief, or rule.”

  At that last word the confusion left Benny’s face. “Oh, I get it now. You were talking about Mom’s rules.” He lowered his voice as if confiding a great secret. “She has a lot of them.”

  “Yes,” Adam said, “moms usually do.”

  “Well boy howdy, listen to the two of you. Someone has to make rules, or else you’d just run amok, all over the place, doing whatever you please, whenever you please!”

  Benny looked from Adam to Jake. Adam raised one eyebrow, and Jake shrugged and then turned to her and said, “I’ve never understood what the problem with that could possibly be.”

  Clearly the men believed themselves good at keeping the dialogue suitably double-edged. Benny didn’t know anything about double entendres, but he proved in the next moment he understood the most important things in life.

  “When you follow Mom’s rules, it makes her happy,” he said. “I like making my mom happy.”

  “You know what, Benny Rose?” Adam ruffled his hair. “You’re a very wise man.”

  “He is at that,” Jake said.

  Obviously being called a man pleased her son, if the way he sat straighter in his chair was any indication.

  The waiter came over and took drink orders, and Ginny decided to relax into the evening. Usually, whenever she went out anywhere with Benny, even though he was usually well behaved, she still felt the responsibility of parenthood, of watching over him, helping him select his dinner, of keeping him engaged.

  Tonight she let that go. Both Adam and Jake seemed eager to take care of Benny, and she could see no reason not to let them.

  One of the things she’d always craved for her son was a decent male role model. She could have none better than Adam and Jake Kendall.

  So she turned her attention back to the menu. “I’ve heard of flounder. Is it any good?” She looked over at Maggie.