Finally, she heard his tone of voice change, strained, holding back. “Get one more out of her,” he ordered Charles.
“With pleasure, bro.”
She let out a cry of agony and ecstasy combined as he twisted her right nipple harder than before and one more explosion ripped the breath from her lungs.
“That’s…it!” Ken rammed deep into her one last time and fell still, her and him both gasping for air.
Charles immediately climbed off her and shut down the Hitachi.
As she caught her breath, the crying started. Another thing they’d discovered sometimes happened after really intense lovemaking.
A good thing, cathartic.
Ken gently lowered her legs and pulled her up to cradle her in his arms. She sat there, still impaled on his softening cock while she shivered and cried against his chest.
“Shh, baby. We’re here. It’s all right.”
Charles sat behind her. He stroked her shoulders and back with tender caresses. “We’ve got you.”
It took her several minutes to regain her wits. When she did, she 156 Tymber Dalton
kissed Ken, deep and slow, then turned her head to kiss Charles. Both men’s blue eyes were filled with concern until she gave them a smile.
“Now I think I’m ready for bed.”
Both men smiled in return. “Not too much?” Ken asked.
She shook her head. “Nope. That was…” She sighed. “Fantastic.”
It wasn’t until both men had already fallen asleep, and she was quickly drifting into it herself, that she pondered the “bro” comment Charles had said.
Well, they are close. Sleep took over, driving all thoughts from her brain.
It’s a Sweet Life
157
Chapter Fifteen
A little after eight the next morning, Libbie was watching the morning news and scoffing at the hordes of Black Friday shoppers when a knock on her door surprised her.
She looked at Charles. “Did someone leave the back door unlocked downstairs?”
He grinned as he rose from the sofa to answer it. “Guilty.”
Mandaline and Sachi stood in the doorway. “Hey, right on time.” He greeted them with friendly hugs.
She shot a glare at Ken. “Now I know why you insisted on me getting up and dressed.”
“Come on,” Sachi said with a playful smile. “Chop-chop. We’re going to be late if we don’t get on the road.”
“Look, guys, I’m sorry, but I’m not a Black Friday shopper.”
“Nope, that’s not what this is,” Mandaline said. “A friend of mine down in Tampa is holding a nutrition seminar at her store, for people with chronic pain and health conditions such as fibro, lupus, and things like that. Her brother-in-law is a homeopathic doctor. He’s the one doing the seminar. Sachi and I are driving you down and going with you.”
“Don’t you guys have to watch the shop?”
“Nope,” Mandaline said. “I’ve got Ellis and Bradley behind the counter today.”
She looked at Ken and Charles, who both wore decidedly sneaky grins. “Why do I have the feeling you’re trying to get rid of me for the day?”
“Because we are,” both men said before laughing.
158 Tymber
Dalton
“We have a surprise for you, but you’ll have to wait until you get back,” Ken added.
“Come on,” Mandaline said as she walked over to the couch and held her hands out to Libbie. “Comfy shoes, and grab gloves and a sweater if you want. They’re serving lunch as part of the seminar.”
“I really appreciate this, but you don’t need to drive me down to Tampa and waste your day.”
“Hey, it’s not wasted,” Sachi said. “We’ve had a bunch of people asking for more seminars on health topics. It’s research. We want to sit through the seminar before we ask him to do one at the store.”
Looking around at the four people, she knew she was
outnumbered and outvoted. She let Mandaline help her up from the couch while Charles brought her purse over and Ken went to retrieve a sweater and her gloves. “Will it do me any good,” Libbie asked, “to grill you and Sachi about the surprise they obviously don’t want me to know about?”
She laughed. “Nope. Your guys have kept us in the dark, too. All we know is they asked if we could spirit you away for a day and this was absolutely perfect timing. I’d planned on asking you to go with us anyway when they mentioned it. So it’s a double surprise.”
“How expensive is this seminar?”
“Nope, you’re not paying me back. It’s on me. I’m writing it off as a business expense. I did some research on this guy and he has a good reputation in his field. He’s not a hoo-hoo quack, as Grover might call them.”
Libbie had to laugh at that. She slipped on her imitation Ugg boots and let Ken help her put her sweater on. “Okay, I’ll have to wait until we get back, then.” The men walked them downstairs and she kissed them good-bye. “Is Galileo going to be pissed when I return?”
Ken smiled. “Nice try, but no. His world won’t be any more upended than it already has been.”
Sachi insisted on letting Libbie have the roomier front passenger seat in Mandaline’s car while she climbed into the back. The drive It’s a Sweet Life 159
down to Tampa went well, and they soon arrived at the store, which occupied a large space in a shopping center in Temple Terrace.
While larger and with more inventory than Many Blessings, Libbie wondered if it was personal bias that made her still favor Mandaline’s store over this one. Not that there was anything wrong with this one. The fact that the classroom in the back was filled with over thirty chairs, and at least twice that many people were either in the store for the seminar or Black Friday shopping, proved that the store was successful.
Still, Libbie liked the quiet intimacy, the feeling of love that flowed through Many Blessings. Mandaline had added a few of her own personal touches to the store after inheriting it, but she hadn’t changed Julie’s original vision or direction.
And every evening, the fact that her classes were usually full, as well as the store was popular with the after-work crowd, showed that Mandaline was doing something right.
Libbie had to admit the class was interesting. The class price included handouts and two of the doctor’s books on nutrition and dietary supplements.
Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what the men had up their sleeves that was so important they felt they needed to get her out of the way for the day.
Once Mandaline’s car was safely down the street, the men looked at each other. “Time to get busy,” Ben said. He grabbed his cell and called Grover. “The coast is clear.”
“We’re on our way.” Fifteen minutes later, the male contingent of the Johnson brood arrived. One of Grover’s sons towed a trailer filled with building supplies Allan had bought on Monday while on one of his “errands.”
“When’s the rest of it coming?” Grover asked Ben as everyone 160 Tymber Dalton
got to work unloading the trailer.
He glanced at the time. “They’ll have it here by noon. Said because it’s going on an asphalt base, no extra setup required. I had the outside electrical circuit installed last week when I told her I was having the utility room panel checked out because I thought there might be an issue.”
Grover’s laugh rolled out of him. “You’re a sneaky one, Ken.”
“I have my moments.”
Allan moved Libbie’s car and their truck out of the way, and the group got to work. Within an hour, they’d screened in one half of the carport and installed latticework for privacy as well. They also hung a light. They were down to the last panel of screen and latticework when the delivery truck showed up with the new hot tub.