"Don't worry about the f.u.c.king coffee cup, baby. All that matters is how badly you're hurt."

Steven winced at Greg's voice. He didn't know when he had developed such tender feelings toward Janet, but he found that he didn't want to dominate her all the time now. He also worried about Greg's aggressiveness with her even though it had never bothered him before with other women.

He knew Greg genuinely liked and cared about her, but he wasn't sure how deeply and how much his att.i.tude and behavior would mellow. He hoped it would mellow some. Watching him feed her the day before had hinted at the tenderness he could show their wife if he tried. He hesitated in talking to him about it. He didn't want to make it worse. He would give it some time.

"Have you cut yourself anywhere?" Greg asked.

"I don't think so. I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know you didn't." Greg sighed. "You shouldn't have been trying to clean up. You should have left it for us to do and gotten off your ankle."

"Well, I didn't, so stop yelling at me."

"Easy, everyone." Steve ran his hands over Janet's hair. "We're just worried about you, love. You scared us to death when we heard the crash."

"Your ankle is swollen again. I don't see any cuts on you, but you have a bruise on your knee."

"I'm not surprised. I landed on it." She sighed and hung her head.

"That had to have hurt."

"Believe me, it did." She lifted her head and looked up at Greg as if willing him to understand.

Steven watched the other man visibly soften toward her. He let out a silent breath. Things would be okay now. He stepped between them and picked Janet up.

"I'm going to take her upstairs and run her a bath. Why don't you finish cleaning up, Greg?"

"Why do I have to clean up and you get to bathe Janet?"

"Because I beat you to it."

Steven carried her to the stairs and up to the bedroom. There, he sat her on the bed and left her there to start the water. He added some bath salts. They would help her feel better, he hoped. Either way, the warm water would do wonders for her sore places. Well, the skinned place on her s.h.i.+n probably wouldn't feel well.

Once the water was deep enough, he turned it off and returned to the bedroom to find that Janet had removed most of her clothes by herself. He smiled and shook his head.

"I should have known you wouldn't be still. Here, let me help you with your shorts." He pulled them off, paying careful attention to her leg so that he didn't rub over the tender areas. Then he helped her remove her underwear.

"Ready for your bath, my lady?"

"Thanks, Steven. I appreciate it. I know it will feel good."

He carried her to the bathroom and carefully slipped her into the water. She hissed when her lower leg went under water but soon sighed and leaned back against the back of the tub. He quickly bathed her so she could relax in the warm water for a while.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to get you out. Stay put, love. Don't make things worse."

She meekly nodded then grinned at him. He sighed and smiled back. Then he left her to her soak. He returned to the kitchen to find Greg finis.h.i.+ng the cleanup.

"She okay?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, she's fine. I have her soaking in the tub. She's going to be sore tomorrow."

"Maybe we should convince her to stay in bed most of tomorrow."

"I think if you word it right, she just might do it. Like I said, she's going to be sore tomorrow. Besides the bruise on her knee, she has another one on her elbow. I'm sure it jarred her fairly hard."

"f.u.c.k! I knew I shouldn't have let her up off the couch, company or no company. Now she's worse off than she was, and we're headed off to work in another day."

"Calm down, Greg. You getting upset isn't helping matters. She didn't mean to fall. It was an accident. Don't make her feel like she did it on purpose."

"That's absurd. I know she didn't do it on purpose."

"Yeah, except that you're fussing at her about it. Back off some."

"Since when have you turned soft, Steven?"

"I'm not soft, just realistic. She's our wife, not a pa.s.sive sub we used to play with. Are you going to be able to separate the two?"

Greg's mouth worked as he appeared to wrestle with it all. The other man wasn't a dominant for the normal reasons. He had history, and it was deep. Steven knew that. He knew Greg's story. It didn't change the fact that they had a very independent wife to learn to live with.

"I'll get her out of the tub. You can close up the house. Check the doors again. I know I locked them, but double-check all of them."

Steven nodded and watched his friend leave the kitchen. He checked the kitchen door and the windows for good measure. Then he walked through the house checking everything else. When he thought he'd given Greg enough time to smooth things over with Janet, he climbed the stairs and walked into the bedroom to find Janet asleep in the middle of the bed and the sound of the shower in the bathroom.

Since Janet was already asleep, he had to a.s.sume that everything worked out well. At least, he hoped so. He decided to use the shower down the hall instead of waiting on Greg to finish.

He was truly worried that Greg was going to alienate himself from Janet if he wasn't careful. Where Steven had naturally gravitated toward the D/s lifestyle, Greg needed the lifestyle because of his past.

Steven had grown up with one brother and three sisters. He'd learned at an early age that some women liked to be dominated in bed. He'd developed the appreciation for that type of lifestyle and met Greg, his cousin, soon after. They had become best friends and found that their personalities complemented each other's both in and out of bed when they were sharing a woman.

Greg tended to be intense and would sometimes intimidate a woman, where Steven was more relaxed and able to calm them. Together, they were the most sought-after pair of Doms in the area.

He sighed. They had to change their methods now, though. Janet was their wife and deserved to be treated with kid gloves. He resigned himself to talking to Greg if it didn't look like the other man was backing off.

Steven finished rinsing off and grabbed a towel to dry with. Then he hurried back down the hall to the bedroom where he slipped into the bed on the other side of Janet and quickly fell asleep.

Chapter Eleven.

The next morning, Janet woke to an empty bed. The men were already up and gone. She noticed a note on the pillow next to her. There were indentions on the pillows on either side of her, so she knew the men had slept with her. The fact that she hadn't b.u.mped her foot on either of them during the night was proof of how tired she'd been.

She rolled over to read the note and groaned. She was so sore. She really had done it this time. The note was from Greg and was about what she would expect from him. He had obviously tried to soften the words.

Baby, please stay in bed until we come see about you. I'm sure you're in no shape to get up, but I know you and you'll try if I don't say no to you. I know you'll do what you want to do, but please stay in the bed. We'll be back inside in a few hours.

Greg Janet wondered how they thought she could lie in bed when she needed to go to the bathroom? She waited as long as she could for them to return, but when they didn't show up an hour later, she was desperate. She gently got to a sitting position. G.o.d, she was sore. Her leg felt like it had been sat on by an elephant. Her elbow hurt as well. She lifted it and winced. She had a bruise there as well.

With an indrawn breath, she slowly got to her feet, putting most of her weight on her good leg. Her bad leg hurt. Still, she had to get to the bathroom. She hopped most of the way only using her sore foot for balance when she had to. Still, by the time she made it to the bathroom, she had broken out in a cold sweat.

After dealing with her urgent need, Janet knew she would never make it back to the bed. She closed the lid on the toilet and sat on it to wait for the men to finally come back. No doubt Greg would be angry, but she would deal with it. Even he had to understand the call of nature.

She heard them coming up the stairs and braced herself for the worst. Instead, she heard Greg call out for her.

"I'm in the bathroom. You can come in."

"Why did you get out of the bed, baby?" Greg just sighed.

"I had to go to the bathroom. I waited as long as I could."

"I'm sorry, baby. I should have thought about that and come back sooner." He ran a hand over her forehead and winced. "You're sweaty. It hurt to move, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but I mostly hopped in here. So I didn't put much weight on my bad ankle."

"That was good thinking." Steven stepped into the bathroom.

"d.a.m.n! We should have left a radio with her and taken the others with us. She could have gotten hold of us on it."

"Didn't think of that, either."

"We'll do that from now on. I'll go get a radio for you now."

Steven squeezed around Greg and picked her up to carry her back to the bed. She was still trying to process the change in Greg. Maybe Steven had said something to him about calming down some. She didn't know, but whatever had happened, she was excited. If he continued to act this way, she knew they could get along. Never mind that she liked their s.e.x life as it was. It was the rest that had had her worried.

Greg disappeared out the bedroom door as Steven settled her back in bed. He even sat next to her, running his hand over her hair. Then he bent over and kissed her. It wasn't a brief kiss, but not a pa.s.sionate one like she longed for, either. When he pulled back, he smiled at her.

"I'll get you a painkiller and something to eat as soon as Greg makes it back."

"Thanks, that would be great."

"Here is the radio, baby. Keep it close to you all the time so you can get us anytime you need us." Greg handed it to her.

"I will." She smiled at him.

"I'm going to fix her something to eat and get her pain medicine. Keep her company." Steven kissed her lightly on the forehead and walked out of the room.

"How are you feeling now that you're back in bed?"

"Much better. I wouldn't have gotten up if I hadn't needed to really bad, Greg."

"I know. It's okay. We should have thought about that."

"If I hadn't been so stubborn, I wouldn't have fallen the second time. I'm sorry."

Greg kissed her. He sucked in her bottom lip and then ran his tongue along it before letting it go. Once he had pulled back, she realized it had been his way of saying it was okay.

"How about a nice warm bath when you finish eating? That should help with any soreness you have."

"I know it will."

"Janet, I'm not an easy person for you to get along with, but I'm trying. We have completely different personalities, and that's bound to cause problems from time to time. Let's promise to work it out right then, and not let it fester between us."

"I can do that. I don't want us to be out of sorts with each other, either. I'm stubborn, and the more you push me, the more I tend to push back. I can't seem to stop myself."

"I don't want you to change your personality. It's one of the things I like about you. I enjoy some of our sparring, but sometimes, we get serious. That's when we need to step back and find a solution that we can both live with." Greg ran his hand up and down her arm.

Janet knew this had been hard for him to do. Men just didn't talk about relations.h.i.+ps and their feelings. She was humbled that he thought enough of her and their marriage to initiate the conversation.

"Okay, love, I have your breakfast and the medicine for you." Steven walked in the room carrying a tray bearing a plate full of food along with something to drink. He set it over her lap.

"This is too much for me to eat, Steven." She was hungry, but not this hungry.

"Just eat what you can. We'll finish up the rest."

"What do I look like, a garbage disposal?" Greg frowned at Steven.

"Fine, if you don't want it, I'll eat it."

"I didn't say I wouldn't eat it."

Janet laughed at them. They were both stubborn, and she realized that she was growing to love them with each pa.s.sing day. Regardless of their differences, they were good men. Would they ever grow to love her? She hoped so, but only time would tell.

While she was upstairs lounging in bed with her books, the men were downstairs going over the plans for the houses they would be building. They had already checked their supplies. She was feeling a bit sorry for herself and lost interest in the book she had been reading. The sound of footsteps on the stairs perked her up. The fact that they were hurrying had her heart thumping madly in her chest.

"Hey, love. How are you doing?" Steven walked into the room with a giant smile on his face.

"I'm bored, but I'm all right. What's going on?"

"Brad and Kirk called on the radio. They have a great idea to keep you and Carmen safe. We're going to put up a fence around the yard and garden."

"Hey, that is a good idea. When are you going to be able to do it? I mean you have to work on the house almost every day, and you have to rest sometime."

"We're going to get the materials today and work on the fence tomorrow. Then we'll work on it every other day until we get it finished. Keeping you safe is more important than finis.h.i.+ng the house on time. Besides, if we work every other day without breaking for a day off, it will get done that much quicker."

"I hate for you to work so hard, Steven. You and Greg are always busy doing something. You should be able to relax a little occasionally."

He ran a hand down the side of her face and flicked her nose with his finger.

"Don't worry about us, love. We'll be fine for a few days. Once we have the fence up, we'll go back to working like we normally would."

"Are you both going to get the supplies?" Janet really didn't want to be left alone in the house.

"No. Greg is going to get the fencing and I'll stay here with you." Is that okay with you?"