Connor had new respect for the emotion of love. The prospect of taking care of Emily Anne just made everything else right inside of him. That was love, and he was going to make sure that Emily Anne received an abundance of it from him from now on.

Emily Anne couldn't prevent her gaze from snapping to Connor and inspecting him the moment he stepped into the kitchen. She'd heard the door, of course, and knew he'd come home. It had been almost an hour since she and Mel had left the clinic-and Connor had gone over to the sheriff's office.

"I'm fine, angel eyes. No blood-either his or mine." He grinned that sweet grin she didn't seen nearly often enough, and swooped in for a kiss.

Emily Anne slid over on the bench seat by the window and made room for him. Mel was in the process of putting together an early dinner of enchiladas, and he'd already told her she may not help.

"I can guarantee you, Emily Anne, you won't be hearing from Billy J again. Man, he took all the fun out of scaring him. I put my best scowl on, stepped toward the bars of his jail cell and he...um...embarra.s.sed himself." Emily Anne figured that he'd scrambled for acceptable words as if he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say in front of her-her being a lady and all.

Emily Anne laughed. "He peed himself?"

"Worse. He whined. It was disgusting." Connor shook his head for emphasis. "A boy, playing at being a man."

"That's what I was thinking when I looked at him sitting there at l.u.s.ty Appet.i.tes. How could I ever have believed that he was the best I could do?"

"Because that was what you'd been taught, growing up," Connor said. He looked at Mel for a moment and then met her gaze once more.

"I grew up in the system up north-in foster care. And by the time I was fifteen, I was headed for a life of crime because that was what I'd been conditioned to believe about myself-that I was no d.a.m.n good, and never would be. People tell you you're garbage long enough, you believe it." He reached out and stroked his hand down her hair. Then he slid his bent finger under her chin. The heat of his gaze seared her. Since meeting these men, she had certainly learned what a look of love looked like.

"People told you, in words and with subtle att.i.tudes, that you somehow weren't attractive-you weren't worthy of being loved properly." He stroked her bottom lip. "Those messages came from people who were your family. How could you not believe them?"

Emily Anne had become more and more self-aware since she'd moved to this town and taken on these men. She'd grown, and she wasn't ashamed to show them just how much. "They were wrong. I'm only seeing that now, and it's because of this town, but mostly because of the two of you." Emily Anne leaned forward and placed a kiss on Connor's cheek. "So who finally enlightened you as to your true worth?"

Connor shook his head, but he was smiling. He slid his arm around her shoulders and nudged her closer.

She didn't have to be asked twice. She leaned against him and sighed, because being held by Connor Talbot just made everything better. Not as good as being sandwiched between him and Mel, but it certainly was one of the two next best things.

"A tough-as-leather old master sergeant who happened to be at the cop house in Detroit the one and only time I was arrested. He had a lot of friends on the force and he pulled some strings so that I was remanded to his custody." Connor shrugged. "His name was Gordon Talbot. Christ, he must have been sixty if he was a day the first time I laid eyes on him."

"You took his name."

"I did-my second year of college. Then I went on to West Point. It was because of him that I got that appointment. He lived long enough to see me graduate from there. He told me I'd made him proud. That was the first really good thing I ever did in my life."

"I never would have taken you for a ring knocker," Mel said. He glanced at Emily Anne and must have seen her confusion. He smiled and said, "It's slang used to refer to anyone who's gone to one of the country's major military academies."

"The uppercla.s.smen at The Point during my plebe year had the same impression. But I was determined to show Gordon that he hadn't wasted his time with me. I got through."

Emily Anne knew Connor was uncomfortable talking about himself, but now she understood the anger she'd seen on his face when she'd told them about the way her family had treated her. She felt confident that with patience, and in time, he'd open up to her more. For now, her curiosity about her former boyfriend needed to be satisfied.

"Did you ever find out why it was Billy J wanted to 'get back together' with me?" When it looked like they were both going to say something about her own self-esteem, she held up her hands, palms out. "Yes, I am worthy of being sought after-but Billy J never loved anyone so much as he loved himself. The first time that Momma tried to talk me into 'giving that nice young Billy J another chance,' I knew something was up, and that he wanted something. I just couldn't figure out for the life of me what it could possibly be."

Connor nodded. "All right, then. Yes, it turns out you were right, he did have an ulterior motive for trying to win you back."

Emily Anne listened as Connor explained to her about the recording company rep from Nashville-the one who showed up and precipitated Billy J's dumping her. He then told her how Billy J had hoped to get himself a harem of groupies that he thought to enjoy under her nose, as it were. She knew her jaw had dropped and her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn't help it. Finally she shut it and just shook her head.

After Connor stopped speaking she was silent for a long minute. "To borrow from Ginny Kendall, boy howdy, how stupid does that boy think I am?"

"What he thinks of you, precious, has nothing at all to do with you. As you said, he only loves himself-he only sees himself. I'm thinking he doesn't even see you-and never really has."

"You're right." Emily Anne sighed. "You know the irony of all this? The boy can sing and his band is actually pretty good, too-when he isn't focused on being such a jerk. He thinks he needs me because that one guy said he liked the sound we made together. But if he wanted to work on it, he could get his break without me. Of course the magic words there were 'if he wanted to work on it.'"

"Trust me when I tell you, sweetheart, that Billy J. Cooper now understands that having you even in the same vicinity in any way, shape, or form is not going to be happening for him."

"After we eat, I'm going to have to call my mother." Emily Ann sighed. "I have to let her know I know why she wanted me to give Billy J a second chance. I also have to tell her that there is no way in h.e.l.l I would embark on a music career under any circ.u.mstances. Not happening, no way, no how." She looked from one man to the other. "I'm also going to tell her that I'm involved."

"Involved?" Connor raised one eyebrow, his single word hanging in the air like a dust bunny that refused to land.

"I'd say you're somewhat more than involved," Mel said. He gave the word inflection as if speaking about something extremely distasteful.

"Am I?" She hadn't planned to turn the conversation serious-well, she hadn't planned to turn it relationship-serious. But thoughts of Billy J had brought back the memory of how she'd sold herself short with him. And while there really was no comparison between that boy and these men, Emily Anne had evolved into a woman who no longer sold herself short.

Not for anyone, or anything. Not ever again.

She was also a woman who was keenly aware that while both of her lovers seemed to really enjoy being with her, something held them back from complete commitment. This menage they were in was missing something, and she figured she knew just what the problem was.

Now was as good a time as any to start setting things to rights.

Emily Anne really believed she understood where her men were coming from, and she honestly couldn't blame them. Neither of them had grown up in l.u.s.ty, so it was only natural that what others came to be and do so easily here might be a bit more difficult for outsiders.

The time had come for her to put her two men on notice that they each had to start dealing with the nine-hundred-pound gorilla in this relationship. She was pretty certain they were as much in love with her as she was with them, though none of them had ever said it.

Connor turned so that he faced her. One comb of his fingers through her hair anch.o.r.ed his hand in her tresses. He tilted her head so that he could look in her eyes.

"You're not 'involved.' You're spoken for. Taken. Ours."

"Because...?"

"Jesus, woman, why do you think?"

Because she was looking in his eyes she knew the exact moment that he realized he was being a bit of a Neanderthal and that, this time, certain words needed to be said.

"Because we love you. I love you. You're everything I ever could have hoped for in a woman. You're s.e.xy and sa.s.sy and you don't take any c.r.a.p from either of us. And Lord"-Connor's eyes glittered-"you respond to us so instantly. Emily Anne Bancroft, you were made for us."

She felt Mel slide in close on the other side of her on the bench. "I love you, too, Emily Anne. You're it for me. My folks always teased me that I was going to die a lonely old single man, because I was never serious about anyone, except that one time. And now I know it was because I hadn't met you yet."

"I love you, too. Both of you." She kissed Connor, and then leaned back so she could kiss Mel, too. "I want us to take this to the next level-in actions as well as in words. But before we can do that, I think the two of you need to spend some quality time together. You have to decide if you can do this, the two of you, together, with me."

Guilt flashed quickly in Connor's eyes. He looked over at Mel.

She figured he must have seen some semblance of his guilt written there on his partner's face, because he sighed.

"Our woman has a point," he said. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I don't think either of us realized it showed, angel eyes. And I didn't realize I wasn't alone with my intimacy issues."

Emily Anne felt almost weak with relief. It hadn't been her imagination, and it hadn't been a problem with her. Yet the result-if her lovers couldn't get together to love her-could be just as devastating. But there wasn't anything she could do about it.

This was something they had to work out themselves.

"What Connor said. It's not you, precious. I don't want you to ever think that. It's me...and I guess it's Connor, too. We'll talk. We will work it out." Mel tilted her face back toward him and kissed her. His tongue swept across her bottom lip and she opened to him, tasting him, sipping him, infusing her senses with his flavor.

"We want this," Connor said. "We want us. We'll figure it out, Emily Anne."

Even as she kissed Connor and let herself sink into him, she understood he hadn't said the word promise.

Emily Anne could only hope they really could work things out. She'd found her future, her destiny, and it was these two men.

She wouldn't, and couldn't accept less than all of them both-hearts, minds, bodies and souls.

"I'm not hungry for food anymore," she said to them. "Let's go to bed."

Chapter 19.

Nothing felt better than being immersed in the heat and the scent of the two of them. Emily Anne was very quickly discovering that both of her men were essential to her well-being and her happiness.

She couldn't love one without the other. It just didn't work that way for her.

Once inside the bedroom, they surrounded her completely, pressing close, and she reveled in kissing one, and then the other. Their taste sustained her, healed her, and made her whole. Closing her eyes, she gave each of her lovers her mouth in turn, and thrilled inside when she realized the subtle differences in their flavors and their style of kissing her.

Then Mel placed a sweet kiss on her shoulder. "I want to light some candles, precious, and put on some smoky jazz. I want to make this night special."

Emily Anne's heart softened. The night was already special as far as she was concerned. Their loving her made it special. "I don't need to be romanced."

"Maybe we need to romance you." Connor cupped her face. "You told us you loved us. Do you have any idea how wonderful that makes us feel?"

"I do, because you said you loved me, too. I never really believed anyone ever would." She didn't worry that such a confession would make her seem pathetic. She'd demanded of them, earlier, to let down their guards enough to accept a level of intimacy with each other most men couldn't accomplish. How could she not let them see all of her?

"Then let us give you the romance," Mel said. "So we can show you how very much you are loved."

She would never be able to deny these men anything. So she surrendered, to the moment, but most importantly, to them.

They left her there in the middle of the room for only a minute. Mel lit candles while Connor closed the drapes, shutting out the late-afternoon sunlight. Then he stepped over to the CD player. Soft jazz filled the room, the strains just faintly there, music, she thought, to make love by.

They returned, their lips and hands kissing and caressing, their fingers working to remove every bit of fabric that hid her from them. She loved the way they undressed her, casting aside the clothing as if it offended them simply by covering her.

She no longer thought to cringe when they looked at her nude body or touched her stomach. Their actions had long proven their words to her. They found her beautiful, desirable, and s.e.xy. If that's how they saw her-and she could tell by their looks and their touches and their fierce erections that it was-then that was going to be her reality from now on.

"I want to look and taste and touch, too. I want to know that I please you as much as you please me." Emily Anne sighed, and decided she could ask for-no, she could demand-one final thing. "Tonight, I want to feel your c.o.c.ks in my a.s.s."

Each time they stroked her a.n.u.s, each time they played with her and then inserted one of the b.u.t.t plugs, she'd been more and more turned on. They'd been using the biggest one the last few times-the plug that most closely resembled the size of Mel's p.e.n.i.s.

Emily Anne needed for this next step to happen. She didn't think she'd be able to get them to take her together yet-some very frank and very personal conversations with Chloe had brought her to that conclusion-but she wanted to be ready for them when they were ready to take her that way.

She just plain wanted them any and every way she could have them. She wanted to give herself completely to them, and hold no part of herself back.

Connor's hands trembled as he cupped her face once more. His thumbs stroked her cheeks and reverence shone in his eyes.

"You want to please us? Angel eyes, you do please us, each and every time you reach out to one of us or smile at us. And when you respond to us, like you are now? My G.o.d, woman you send us into orbit."

Mel ran his hands down her body, making her shiver with the depth of the arousal that filled her.

"You please us just by being," Mel said. "I know that sounds trite, but, precious, when you reached for us that first time, you really did make our dreams come true. Don't you know what you do to us? Can't you feel it?"

She could feel it, and counted herself a glutton for her desire to sit down at this wonderful banquet time and again and simply gorge herself on them. She only knew that she took all the loving and the pampering they gave her-she didn't see how she gave anything back.

The fervency of their words and the slight trembling of them both left her in no doubt that as far as they were concerned, the scales were indeed balanced.

"All I do know is that I love you both so much. You make me feel...you make me feel, for the first time in my life, that I am a whole woman. You can't know what a blessing that is to me."

She saw Connor look up at Mel. When he met her gaze once more he said, "We can. I can. You've redeemed me, Emily Anne Bancroft, when I never believed I would ever find redemption. I love you more than life itself."

He kissed her, a gentle, reverent tasting that left her shaking, in awe of his words, and the emotion behind them.

Then he stepped back and, without breaking eye contact, pulled the clothes from his body, yanking them away from him as if the touch of them burned his flesh and he needed to be rid of them.

"Come here." He put his hands on her and brought her flush against him.

Emily Anne inhaled deeply, drawing his scent, his very essence into her body and, she was certain, into her soul.

The moment he had hands on her, Mel stepped back just enough to give himself s.p.a.ce. She heard the sound of him undressing and wanted to smile when she realized he simply dropped his clothes and left them where they fell. And then they had her right where she wanted most to be, in between them.

This was what she loved, that moment when she could feel them both, when she could caress them both. She loved that she could close her eyes, breathe deeply, and inhale the two of them, together.

Emily Anne sighed, and both men chuckled.

She gave them her smile and gave herself over to being kissed and petted, stroked and explored and teased.

Heat rose from them, heat and the aroma of lovemaking that Emily Anne had never before appreciated. She did now. Now, the fragrance they created together, all three of them, set her heart to pounding, her juices to flowing, and her mouth to watering.

"Please." She wanted them closer, but couldn't ask, not yet. She wanted them both inside her at once but knew that, too, could not yet be hers. She couldn't beg for that, or really demand that, as much as she already had. That truly had to be a gift they both gave her together. But her one word, whispered, could convey her heart, her need, and maybe, just maybe, that part of them which was her mate inside each of them would hear it and understand what she needed.

"Don't beg, sweetheart." Connor lifted her into his arms and brought her down to the bed. He fastened his mouth on hers and with his kiss alone, began to drive her out of her mind.

She drew his tongue into her mouth the same way as she would his c.o.c.k, stroking it with her own tongue, sucking, moaning, intent on giving him pleasure, making him come.

She pushed on Connor's chest and he obeyed her unspoken request, laying himself flat on the bed. Even as she raised herself up onto her knees, she reached with her right hand for Mel.

He'd come down on the bed on her other side, but now he moved closer, and she wrapped her hand around his c.o.c.k. Her left hand surrounded Connor's hard shaft.

She sat back, on her haunches, and treated them to identical stroking, her rhythm strong and steady and sure.