Brad came first, his fingers digging in as he let out a long groan. Then Ellis exploded, his cum splashing across her tongue as she struggled to swallow it all. Winded, she limply lay and sucked on his softening cock while Brad caught his breath.
Ellis stroked her hair. “Wow,” he whispered.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him, his pleased smile and gorgeously clear aura breaking her heart with its beauty.
If she could do that to him, to both of them, bring them that much joy, she’d never again question the whys or hows of them coming together.
If being with her healed them, and maybe herself in the process, then it was right no matter what anyone else thought or said.
Ellis made her let go and leaned in, kissing her sweetly, deeply, tenderly. “I love you,” he said.
Brad withdrew and placed a kiss in the center of her back. “Love you, too,” he echoed.
She fumbled for and found their hands, squeezing them. “Love you both,” she said.
They all jumped at a knock on the bedroom door. “Not to be a buzzkill,” Sachi said from the other side of the door, “and I hope I waited long enough to interrupt, but someone better put a gag in her mouth next time. Sound carries.”
Mandaline felt her face go supernova hot, but the two men laughed.
“Sorry,” Brad called out. “We’ll be quieter next time.”
“Thanks, Tarzan,” Sachi replied. A moment later they heard her going back down the stairs.
Ellis snickered.
She rolled over onto her back and clapped a hand over her eyes. “Oh. My. Goddess. How the hell am I supposed to go back downstairs?” she whispered.
Brad leaned in and kissed her. “I would suggest a shower first. And don’t forget, you are the boss. If you want to do the sweaty with us up here during lunchtime, it’s your prerogative.”
Ellis kissed her again before getting out of bed. “I’ll make us some sandwiches.” He grabbed his shoes and clothes and headed for the bathroom.
Brad, the condom still on his wilting cock, stretched out next to her with a pleased grin on his face. “I did warn you, baby. So did Ellis. I believe fire hoses and cold water were mentioned.”
She studied his face, his sweet brown eyes. His aura also seemed clearer, although he hadn’t been in as much emotional pain as Ellis had started out with. “You two won’t get jealous of each other and get in a fight over me, will you?” she softly asked. “Although I guess it’s kind of late to ask that.”
He laced his fingers through hers and drew them to his lips. “Never, baby. I don’t think we could have made it work with two different women, to be quite honest. I think we always were meant to share the same love.” He kissed her again. “He needs someone to help look after me. In his mind, he does,” he added. “Maybe he’s a little right. And face it, you’ve been through a lot. I think two men need to tag-team you. I think you’re such a strong person, whether or not you realize it, that you’d inadvertently chew one man up and spit him out. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, either. You never were meant to be with Carl. He wasn’t strong enough for you in more ways than one. I also don’t think there are many women out there who would support and encourage my relationship with Ellis the way you can.”
He sat up and pulled her up with him. “Let’s eat and grab a shower. I’ll go down first and suss things out before you come down.”
“I really don’t want to screw this up,” she whispered.
He frowned. “Screw what up?”
“This. Us. The business. Everything.”
He smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. “You won’t,” he assured her. “We won’t let you. None of us.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sachi was ensconced in a reading when Brad sounded the all clear around one thirty for Mandaline to come downstairs.
Although Paige pursed her lips together in an attempt to hold back her smirk, she didn’t say anything to Mandaline about the incident.
Mandaline’s eye fell on the plastic crate full of cards below the register. She pulled it out.
Paige’s expression turned somber. “Yeah,” she said. “There is that. We’re still getting them every day, brought in and by mail.”
She let out a sigh. “I guess I know what I need to handle.” She carried it upstairs to the apartment. Spreading out on the couch with a letter opener, she began the emotional process of going through them. She didn’t know what to do with them. There were a few from suppliers, more generic ones that were polite but not necessarily ones she felt strongly enough to save.
Most were cards from customers and friends expressing their condolences with their names, and sometimes a short message.
Then…
Then there were the long personal notes, sometimes additional letters tucked into the card as well. She knew some of those would need personal responses. With those, as soon as she saw a block of writing, she tucked the card back into the envelope and put it aside to deal with later. The first one almost had her in tears, a long, sweet note from a reading customer of Julie’s who talked about how wonderful an impact Julie had on her life.
I can’t deal with that right now.
It was too much, too soon. She finally felt a little like she’d regained most of her emotional footing. She didn’t want to shake her soul up any more than necessary at this point.
She heard the door to the stairwell open, followed by Sachi’s voice. “Boss?”
She sniffled and sat back. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
Sachi emerged from the stairwell, her serious-friend expression in attendance. She nodded at the crate. “Paige told me you brought it up here. You all right?”
She let out a deep breath. “I guess.”
“If you want to leave the rest for me to go through, I will.”
“Yeah, but you’ve done so much already.”
She shrugged. “That’s why I’m here.”
“You could have warned me sooner, by the way.”
Sachi didn’t need a map to follow her train of thought. She grinned. “I thought about it, but I didn’t have the heart to. You sounded like you were having too much fun.”
“How many people heard?”
“No customers, don’t worry. Just staff out by the counter.” She jammed her hands into the pockets of her slacks and approached the couch. “I think you need a vacation.”
“Says the woman who won’t take a paid day off if I threatened her.”
“I like what I do.” She knelt in front of Mandaline to pet Pers. “Just remember, those two are good for you. And you’re good for them.” She smiled. “And I don’t just mean good for their prostate health, either. You all were meant to be together. Enjoy it.” She stroked the dog’s head. “You know she’d want you to be happy.”
“I know.” She hesitated, then packed away the cards she hadn’t opened, as well as the ones she couldn’t deal with yet.
Sachi stood and held out her arms. “Gimme. I’ll take it and put it back down there. You need to do something fun this afternoon. Or at least non-sad.”
They heard what sounded like a large truck behind the building. When Mandaline looked out the window, she saw a UPS truck backing up to the door.
“Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“Tom backed in today.”
Sachi laughed. “Guess we just got part of our replenishment order.”
“Yeah.” The driver opened the back door and unloaded a dolly first. Then he started unloading box after box…after box.