Good Enough to Share (Good Enough, Book 1 - Christmas) Page 6
Chapter Five
I’m no feminist, but I don’t do chauvinists either. All men are equal, but in different ways. But cooking dinner was fun with the boys. I’d half hoped that I’d have a repeat performance with Dane in his apron and little else. But he turned up in jeans and shirt and proceeded to help us prepare dinner dressed that way and he was more than passable, way more. And the sight of Charlie dressed in his comfortable sweat pants made me heat up inside as I kept thinking about how comfortable and right it had felt when he’d wrapped me in his warmth last night. I was going to get seriously overheated this Christmas if I wasn’t careful, and it would have everything and nothing to do with cooking the dinner.
“Shouldn’t you be doing the sprouts, wench?” Dane’s syrupy smooth deep tones pulled me from my daydreams, and what seemed to be my favorite hobby of watching his bum —which he knew I was ogling.
“Get back to your basting, stud, and stop being bossy.”
He laughed.
“How cute are my pigs in blankets?” Charlie sounded wistful as he carefully wrapped a piece of bacon round the last chipolata. We all laughed.
“Cute?” Dane’s raised eyebrow said it all, and dashed one of my fears in an instant, they did know each other well. They did get on and any baiting was friendly fire not testosterone-fuelled competition.
“Cute can be a bonus.” Charlie winked and ran a hand threw his blond curls before pinching my bum. “Can’t it?”
“It can.” Boy, they were sugar and spice, yin and yang or whatever floats your boat. Dane was all hands on hip and swagger, the race to the winning post. Charlie was tousled hair and casual nonchalance, the meander down the river. Except things are never that clearly defined are they?
I glanced at Dane, all hooded eyes and watchful and expected a clever retort but he just gave a lopsided smile and clanked the oven shut. “Time to crack out the drinks I think before I get as pale and pasty as that turkey.”
“It was a bronze, I’ll have you know.”
He pulled a bottle of champagne from the fridge and passed it to Charlie. “Do the honors, posh boy.” Then reached back in for a bottle of beer. Charlie popped the cork with minimum effort, but I guessed my cowboy would have done it just as easily if he’d wanted. There was a lot I didn’t know about both of them.
“Here’s to Christmas then.” We toasted and settled down on the sofa.
“So, are you a posh boy then?” Charlie had joined me in a glass of bubbly but he always looked just as comfortable with a can of beer.
“Of course he is. As posh as they come.”
“Shush.” I gave Dane a nudge in the ribs. Charlie looked from me to Dane and back again and took another gulp of his fizz.
“Fairly.” He shrugged.
“He’s loaded.”
“Dane.” For a strong silent type he had a lot to say all of a sudden.
“It’s okay, there’s nothing to tell. I’m not loaded, my family are fairly comfortable though.”
Dane gave a funny snort type noise, if I’d done it I would have ended up spitting everywhere or something nasty coming out of my nose. “His family own half of a home county and he went to private school and then was supposed to go to Oxford.”
“And you didn’t?” I knew he didn’t because he’d gone to Sheffield, like me and Sophie. But I was a bit squeaky, because, well, Oxford, who wouldn’t want to go to Oxford?
“It’s not big deal, I did a term then decided it wasn’t for me.”
“Too many posh boys wanting to bugger him.” Dane’s voice was conspiratorial, but loud enough to hear so I gave him another dig in the ribs.
“I just wanted to have a go at doing things my own way, without all the shit.” He shifted round a bit so his head rested on mine. Ah, sweet little Charlie, you just wanted to reach out and hug him. Mother him. Something a bit like a lump lodged in my throat, the last thing I wanted was a man who made me feel like a mother. “They’re great my family, but it’s all a bit smothering.”
“So he came to slum it with us lot, we’re his social experiment.” I knew that wasn’t really true, Charlie was generous in nature and I couldn’t imagine him ever being nasty to anyone, or considering anyone beneath him. Dane knew it as well, he was just jibing and I had a funny feeling they were swapping looks over the top of my head.
I could understand now though why Charlie was the man he was, why he was so relaxed. Having everything made you that way, sit back and wait for life to bring you good things. Except he had decided to go and look for a bit more, even if doing it with minimal effort was his natural style. Being round Charlie made me feel relaxed, comfortable. He had the easy assurance of a man who got what he wanted, but a hint of child, insecure boy who wanted to be loved and reassured. He gave and expected nothing back, except good friends. If you let Charlie down I could imagine he’d just be hurt and disappointed, and you’d feel too bad to ever let him hug you again.
He picked up his phone, idly flicked through his emails and then stilled. It was strange, I wouldn’t have noticed it with anyone else but because he was always Mr. Uber Relaxed, that slight tension was like a Tannoy blaring out.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” He swung to his feet. “I’ll check the turkey, shall I? Probably time it came out.”
Dane and I swapped looks and raised eyebrows, and then he reached out for the mobile that Charlie had tossed to one side.
“You can’t—” My whisper was on the verge of a squeak, because even though he couldn’t I didn’t want Charlie to know he’d even thought it.
Dane didn’t look my way, just calmly scrolled down the screen. His fingers looked too large to do what he was doing.
“You can’t just read someone’s messages.”
He shrugged. “It was an email and he’d left it open.”
“Who was it?” I was still sounding like a strangled mouse, because a proper whisper didn’t seem urgent enough.
“Nosy. I thought you said I couldn’t?”
“Well, you did.” So if he already knew I was bloody sure I wasn’t going to be left out.
“Ah, so the fact I did it makes it okay for you to know?”
“I don’t care. You shouldn’t have.”
“You do care.” He threw the mobile back down and settled back beside me, folding his arms, just as Charlie came back. “So what did she want?”
Charlie didn’t seem bothered that Dane had been reading his emails. “Dunno.” He pulled a funny face, a hint of upset that bothered me. “She just wanted to touch base for some reason. It doesn’t matter.” But it did, I could tell by the way his shoulders were tensed.
“So, you going to talk to her?” Dane wasn’t letting it go.
“I might, dunno. There’s no hurry. The big fat bird is out of the oven so we can get eating soon.”
We got eating and I was itching from the inside out. I’m one of those people who want the full story, all the facts, and I’m not very patient when I’ve just been served crumbs. Charlie finally took pity on me on my state of ignorance.
“It was this girl called Anna.” He took another good mouthful of food and chewed slowly, being polite and not saying a word until his mouth was empty. Completely empty. “We were best mates at school and then we made the mistake of dating.” I’m sure the next look he gave me was pretty pointed. Friends to lovers, mistake, hmm. “It was great at first because we got on so well, we knew everything about each other and it seemed—” He took a swig of wine and cleared his mouth, his throat, and my own ached a little for him. He looked so well, I suppose forlorn is the word. “It seemed great for quite a while.” The gentle drift of his voice told me this hurt. “Then I guess she got bored of it all, of me. I thought it was all good, but seems I was wrong.” He did that shrug again. “A Dear John was all I got.”
“A Dear John?” I couldn’t quite believe it, even if a beautiful friendship had turned into disaster as a romance surely it deserved more than a letter goodbye.
But it obviously wasn’t water under the bridge or he wouldn’t remember word for word what she’d said. “Why did she say it’s for the best?” It seemed a weird choice of words to end something that had obviously meant so much. I mean, even if the girl had decided that he wasn’t her type as a lover, they’d been close. Charlie might seem the most laid-back guy in the world, but I bet he could spot a fake at fifty yards, so Anna had been no fake.
“Leave it, Hol.” Dane’s voice was a soft warning. “Come on guys, we’ve not pulled the crackers.” He waved his, and Charlie somehow resurrected his grin.
“A three way pull?” I looked from one to the other of them and they both waved a cracker in my direction and after a moments hesitation I picked mine up, wondering what I was letting myself in for.
***
“And now it’s time to play the party games.”
“What?” I stretched out on the sofa and even though the turkey had been settling for a couple of hours I still had that after dinner laziness. We’d slobbed in front of the TV for a while, but now it seemed action man Dane was getting twitchy. “You mean like charades?”
“Twister is more my style.” I groaned, right now lying flat on my back seemed far more appealing. My groan turned to a shriek as he tickled the sole of my foot.
“Stop it.” I tried to kick out but he held my ankle with one strong hand. “I mean it, stop it, you sod.” I could have said I had very ticklish feet, but it was kind of unnecessary. “I’m not one of your nephews.”
He grinned. “Oh, I’m well aware of that.” One finger traced a line the length of my foot, then slowly, excruciatingly back making every muscle in my legs tense up. His thumb pressed firmly down on my insole and suddenly I didn’t know whether I wanted him to stop or carry on, he massaged across the ball of my foot and I stopped fighting. A little shimmy zigzagged its way up my leg all the way to the top and a new set of muscles clenched. This time with want. His grip on my ankle eased and he held my foot in a gentle embrace as his other rubbed over every millimeter of my foot with firm strokes that were a lifetime away from ticklish. My knees dropped apart when he started on my other foot, both thumb easing their way up the length of my sole, circling, pressing. “Nice?”
“Yes.” It was a croaky, weak squeak of a response but it seemed to be what he wanted because the warmth of his hand started to move up my leg, firm fingers kneading and stroking my calf until I wanted to whimper. It was when he got just past my knee that I opened my eyes. He was looking at me intently and I ran my tongue over my lower lip, my whole body was relaxed and yet thrumming at the same time. I opened my mouth to object, but he just shook his head ever so slightly and glanced to his left. I looked where he wanted, looked towards Charlie. I’d half expected him to be asleep, or busy, but he was watching us, his hand rubbing at his crotch and it was as though he’d given me permission to carry on. He was happy, we were all happy. Christmas is for sharing. Just watching Charlie rub that long elegant cock of his, the cock I’d had in my hands only yesterday, wound me up as much as Dane’s clever touch. As I watched him the warmth spread further up my thigh and I gasped as Dane’s thumb made contact with the crotch of my knickers.
“You are so hot.” I think he meant between my legs, not a statement of my attractiveness, but it didn’t matter, I was burning up. He tugged at my knickers and as they rolled down my legs, not elegantly as knickers should do but in a tangled mass, Charlie eased his pants down so that he could get a proper grip of himself. I watched his hand pumping with a firm but delicate touch, watched so closely that when Dane’s fingers pushed their way into my pussy it was part surprise and part just what my imagination knew was going to happen next.
I gasped and Charlie speeded up. I lifted my hips wanting Dane deeper inside me and he chuckled, a low dirty chuckle that made my nipples harden and my thighs tremble. His thumb rubbed hard against my swollen clit as his fingers curled up against my rough G spot and I heard a funny, moany groan that had to be me. I trembled around his hand, so close, needing more but he stopped. I looked back at him and he was all intent, dark and dominant. He fished in his back pocket, held up the wrapped foil packet and half waited.
“I want you Dane, please.” It was all he needed, but his gaze never shifted from mine as he split the pack and rolled it on. His hands were firm on my hips as he nudged against me. I could hear Charlie, hear the slide of skin against skin, but I couldn’t look. I was holding my breath, waiting as Dane nudged against me, slid along my labia tormenting me, but not allowing me to shift against him. Then with one firm thrust he was in, not just a little as I’d expected, but right deep all the way inside with a kind of possessiveness that made me gasp. For a moment he was buried as far as he could go, my ankles locked round his hips, holding him in as I lifted my hips and claimed him. Then he withdrew slowly, pushed fully inside me again just once, just once to show he was in charge, in control, and I came. I tumbled over the edge trembling around him and the darkening of his eyes told me he’d nearly lost it.
I’ve always been fucked politely, nice gentle men who respected me. But this was different. Dane was all strength and possession, Dane demanded. He pounded hard until I was screaming out, he eased off until I was begging. He took me so near the brink time and time again that I was grasping at him, clawing at him desperate for him to come. But he didn’t. He was cruel and kind all at once and it should have been scary, but it wasn’t.
He was kneeling on the sofa, had pulled me up, supporting my bum with his firm hands so that I couldn’t move when he finally slowed down. His hips were gyrating, slow circles of pleasure so that he hit nerve endings that had never been hit before and I was turning liquid inside and out. The urgency had gone and what was left was a deep, thorough fucking that was making me pant. I’d almost forgotten Charlie, distantly heard his grunts as I was taken to places I’d not been before, but now I knew he was stood next to me. I opened my eyes and met his blue gaze and he smiled.
“You are so fucking gorgeous when you come, you know.” Then he leaned down and kissed me, took my mouth in his just as Dane thrust hard and deep and shattered my last bit of control. And as I felt the warmth flooding me, as I cried out it was into Charlie, sharing caring Charlie who had his fingers tangled in my hair and his hand lightly covering my breast. It was Charlie’s tongue that found mine, but Dane’s hands that were warm against my hips as he held me until every last shiver had gone.
Chapter Six
“You look knackered.” Sophie was giving me ‘the look’.
“Yes, I had a lovely Christmas thanks for asking.”
“I didn’t think I needed to ask.” She plopped down on the chair opposite and raised an enquiring eyebrow which I chose to ignore.
“You had a good day too then?”
“Turkey, kids, broken presents, wrong presents, tantrums, wine, falling asleep in front of a movie. Yeah, par for the course.”
“Same here.” Well, more or less. But from the look she was giving me she knew it was less rather than more.
“Hmm. So where are the boys?”
“Pre-match beer.” It was Boxing Day, which meant football and I’d been quite pleased when they’d announced they were off. I’d woken up with one leg entangled with Dane’s, a dead arm, and the warmth of Charlie wrapped round my back with his hand on my boob. All in all a new experience, and it needed assimilating. I didn’t process new experiences that quickly. “Do you know about Charlie’s ex?” Heading her off at the pass was the easy option, but I also knew she’d know, and I wanted to know. Not because I was jealous or anything, but….
“Oh Anna, you mean?” She knew, didn’t even need to ask which ex. “Why?”
“She emailed him yesterday and he was a bit—”
“Yeah, he would be
.” She wandered through to make herself a cup of coffee, but carried on the conversation. “What did she want? He’s not been in touch with her for ages, well since—”
“She went?”
“Yeah.” She sat down again and stretched her legs out in front of her, admiring her socks for a silent moment. “They’d just split when I met him—”
“I thought you’d known him for years?”
“No.” She frowned. “Oh, he’s not from round here, well not originally.”
“Oh.” That stopped me short, I’d assumed that he was one of Sophie’s primary school mates, just like Dane. He seemed so settled, like he’d been here forever. “But, this place, the —”
“He wanted to move on from everything so he came back here with me in the hols and liked it here.” She shrugged. “He bought this place, so he has been here a few years. Anyway, as I was saying, the Anna thing was why he’d left Oxford and came to Sheffield. He needed to get away.”
“It was that bad?” She gave me a look, the interruptions weren’t welcome.
“Well he wanted a fresh start, no family expectations, no Anna. It’s not easy when your family are practically royalty and you’re expected to do everything a certain way you know.”
“Isn’t it?” I wouldn’t know, and I don’t think Sophie would either. She chose to ignore me.
“They’d grown up together, been really good mates, you know? Then one night they had a quick snog and it just went boom. They’d been pretty full on before but I think this was real soul mate stuff. When she sent him that note it was completely out of the blue and she just did a disappearing act, went abroad I think. It sounded so weird, but he was really broken up about it. I know he always seems devil may care but he was dev-a-stated.” She was putting on the full dramatics, but something told me every word was true. “What did she want then?”
“I don’t know. Dane read the email but I didn’t.”
“Nosy bugger.” The two words kettle and black sprung to mind but I didn’t say them. “Don’t play games with Charlie, will you? Be gentle.” Christ she looked serious, very serious for Soph, and the change of direction caught me on the hop.