Fire in the Hole

  He sighed. “It’s like you’re reading my damn mind. That’s not fair.”

  She draped her arms around his neck. “I need at least one tactical advantage over you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because every time you get between my legs, it’s like you switch my damn brain off. I can’t control myself with you.”

  He nuzzled the side of her neck. “Are you complaining, Ma’am?”

  “Absolutely not. That wasn’t a complaint, more of an observation.”

  They stood there, snuggling for another long, peaceful moment. “This feels right,” she said.

  “I know.”

  “Really right.”

  “Yeah.”

  She looked up into his eyes again. “Are we crazy for falling this hard this soon?”

  He kissed her again. “Maybe, but I’m not going to question it when it feels more right than anything ever has before.”

  “Me, either.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Three weeks later, and the three of them had settled into a routine. They didn’t bother trying to sneak anything past Mark, admitting to him that Lara was sleeping in Brad’s room. They didn’t want to insult his intelligence by trying to make excuses if he saw her coming or going from there.

  And, as they’d expected, Mark was fine with that development.

  Although there were plenty of times they shooed the boys over to Wylie and Everett’s house to give them a couple of hours alone in the evening.

  Hours usually spent in bed behind a locked door.

  She’d not only worked Brad up to the largest butt plug he’d had when they first started, he’d bought three more in increasingly larger sizes.

  Lara wouldn’t deny she’d been shopping around for the perfect strap-on rig.

  And she’d had a friendly chat with Mark and convinced him that he didn’t have to call her “ma’am.” With Brad already calling her that, it sort of squicked her out a tad. While the boy had understandably been confused at first, she’d fibbed, a little.

  “It makes me feel old, sweetie,” she told him. “As long as you’re saying please and thank you, I’m good. Seriously. Just call me Lara, or Lar. Whatever’s more comfortable for you.”

  Mark had looked to Brad for guidance. “Son, it’s all right. She’s asking you. It’d be rude not to follow her wishes.”

  “Then why do you call her ma’am?”

  Lara and Brad exchanged a quick glance, but Brad took point. “Because it’s a term of endearment. A private joke. Like she calls me mister.”

  Fortunately, Mark had let it drop after that.

  And Lara had taken Brad and Mark over to her parents’ house for dinner and to introduce them all. Fortunately, it seemed that everyone got along, and they were even happy to hear that she was now living across the street from Everett, and that he was doing well.

  Steve was finally convinced to take a plea deal, which included a permanent restraining order against him. Since she’d heard nothing else from him before or since then, she hoped that was the last of it and he was out of her life for good.

  When summer school classes ended, Jacob and Mark started spending a lot of time together, both at their house and over at Wylie’s, helping him out. While Lara wouldn’t have pegged Jacob to be much for manual labor, the boy was trying to learn skills handy for knowing not just around the ranch, but for life in general.

  Even better, her seedlings were doing great, and the seeds they’d planted were sprouting.

  Lara had taken that Tuesday off from work due to working the Saturday before. Brad was out of town, from late Sunday until Wednesday evening, up in Tallahassee giving committee testimony about one of the studies he’d worked on.

  That meant she was on her own until Mark returned home.

  She decided to stroll over to Wylie’s and visit with him, since she saw his truck was parked by the house, meaning he was home. The boys had spent the afternoon over at Jacob’s house because Jacob’s mother was going to take them to the movies while she went shopping at the mall. Lara didn’t expect Mark home until after six.

  She found Wylie out in his garden. “Hey, you. My garden’s not nearly as impressive as yours.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call this impressive.” They had several raised beds going strong, plus Olive had helped Wylie out by helping him make a high tunnel, both to start seeds in as well as to help extend the growing season, even though they usually had a mild winter this far south.

  “Looks better than mine. So what’s new?”

  He shrugged, smiling. That’s when she spotted the ring on his left hand.

  She grabbed it, yanking it closer for a better look. “He proposed?”

  “Yesterday. We went to the county courthouse and got our marriage license. We’ll go back Thursday afternoon to get married.”

  “Uh, did Tilly approve this plan?” She’d become close friends with the woman, even though most of their communications happened via text, e-mail, or over the phone due to Tilly’s schedule.

  “We haven’t told anyone else yet. This just happened yesterday.”

  She whipped out her phone and texted Tilly.

  Within seconds, Wylie’s cell phone rang.

  When he answered and hit the speaker button, Tilly’s voice exploded from it. “What do you mean you’re getting married at the courthouse?”

  “Uh, hello to you, too?”

  “Nooooo, no no no. Nuh-uh. You are not getting married without me and Lan and Cris getting to be there, and my ass is in LA until Friday night. So back up the bus, bucky.”

  “It’s okay, Til. We don’t want there to be any trouble.”

  “There won’t be. We’ll have it at our place. I’ll get Loren and Landry and Cris on it and she’ll do the ceremony.”

  Lara grinned. “Busted,” she softly said.

  He stuck his tongue out at her.

  “Who was that?” Tilly asked.

  “The snitch who just ratted me out.”

  Tilly’s tone changed, brightened. “Oh, hey, Lara.”

  “Hi, Tilly.”

  “Glad you’re there. That will save me an extra call later. Can you please help Lor coordinate with my two heathen men to arrange these two dudes a proper shindig?”

  “I certainly can. It’d be my pleasure.”

  “It has to be vanilla,” Wylie said. “If you’re forcing me into a ceremony, I want Everett’s parents and sister there. And Mark and Jacob. They’re kids.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. We can do vanilla with the best of them. Lar, do you have Landry and Cris’ numbers?”

  She scrolled through her phone. “No, just yours.”

  “I’ll text them, and Loren’s to you when we get off here. Saturday afternoon, two o’clock. Now, off you go.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Lara and Wylie both said, making them laugh.

  Tilly laughed, too. “Smartasses.” She hung up.

  Seconds later, Lara’s phone started vibrating with a series of contact info forwarded by Tilly.

  “Thanks for ratting me out,” Wylie said. But he wore a smile, so she knew he couldn’t be too upset.

  “Hey, you’d probably rat me out, too.”

  “True. I would. So when are you two getting married?”

  She shrugged “We’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage. We’ll get there.”

  He smiled, but it looked evil. “I’ll make sure you don’t escape Tilly’s wedding planning clutches.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him. “Yeah, well, since Ev and I got married in Vegas, I’m actually looking forward to having a ceremony with family and friends around, so ha.”

  * * * *

  When Brad returned home from Tallahassee late Wednesday evening, he found Lara in the living room. With her furniture in there, they were now spending as much time in there as they did the family room. The boys could have their privacy, and they could have theirs.

  “Hey, you,” she said, giving him a hug and kiss.
>
  “What are you doing?” He turned to look at the wall and realized she’d been hanging the pictures she’d had on the wall at the apartment.

  “I hope this is okay,” she quietly asked.

  He pulled her in again for another kiss, this one hard and deep. “I hope this means you’re here for good.”

  She smiled. “If you want me for that long.”

  “You’d better believe it, Ma’am,” he whispered, aware of Mark and Jacob in the next room.

  Then his son appeared in the doorway. “I offered to help her, Dad, but she wouldn’t let me.”

  “It’s okay, son. I know. That’s fine.”

  He nodded and left them alone again.

  Lara smiled. “Bless his heart,” she whispered, “he was nearly in tears.” Her smile faded. “I finally told him it was something I needed to do for me, because of my brother. He was worried he was going to get in trouble with you for not helping me, and I told him he wouldn’t.”

  “He is my son, that’s for sure.”

  “He went out and weeded my garden with Jacob before I realized what he was doing.”

  He laughed. “Trying to make up for it, huh?”

  “I guess.” She rested her head against his chest. “You’re a great dad. And Breanna’s not a bad mom.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I notice you didn’t say great.”

  “I said not-bad. Okay, she’s good. She’s just…flakey, as Mark says. Not in a bad way.”

  “No, she’s not really flakey. She’s just a different personality. She doesn’t have the kind of good ole common sense some of us have. She’s great at her job, but if she didn’t make good money, she couldn’t afford a repairman every time something breaks.”

  “Or you or Mark fixing it.”

  “Or me or Mark fixing it.” He smirked. “Thank you for not being jealous over that.”

  “Hey, I’m the one in your bed every night. I’ve seen no signs of her being a bitch. She was even sweet to me at Mark’s birthday party. You’re good with Ev.”

  “Ev’s gay.”

  “Yeah, but still. Steve was jealous of him.”

  “Because Steve’s a douchecanoe.”

  “I’ll give you that.”

  * * * *

  That Saturday afternoon, they were all gathered at Tilly’s house for the ceremony. The men hadn’t emerged yet, and Tilly was running around to make sure everything was perfect. They would actually be back there the next weekend for a private play party, where Tilly, Abbey, and Eliza were going to help tutor Lara on impact play techniques.

  Neither she nor Brad were sure if it was something they’d permanently add to their routine, but they were both increasingly curious about it.

  Lara had invited her parents to come, but they’d already booked a cruise with friends of theirs and couldn’t change the date. They’d asked for someone to record it so they could see it later and wanted to go out to dinner with the men once they were back from their cruise.

  Eve had come by herself, but she homed in on them when they’d arrived, Lara and Brad, with Mark and Jacob.

  “Mark, just the man I want to talk to.”

  “Ma’am?”

  Lara blamed Brad for making her giggle, because he’d glanced her way and winked.

  “I have a friend, Kimbra, who’s an attorney in Sarasota. She’s a partner in a firm. Different firm than I work for. She’s handling a lot of civil rights and immigration cases now. I told her I knew a kid who’s interested in specializing in civil rights law, and she told me to extend to you an offer to come clerk for her any time. Even before college, if you want. I can arrange for us to go to dinner next week so you can meet her. She’s eager to talk to you.”

  “She is?”

  “Mmm-hmm. She’s the lawyer who handled getting Louis Olson freed not too long ago. He’s the one—”

  Mark’s eyes widened. “I know that case! He was wrongly convicted of murdering his step-father and mother, and attacking his sister!”

  Eve smiled. “You heard about it.”

  “Yes, ma’am. His case is one of the reasons I want to go into civil rights law.”

  She held out a hand for a fist bump. “I’m suitably impressed, grasshopper. Good job, you.”

  He bumped fists with her. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  * * * *

  Brad knew he’d probably pay for making Lara giggle later, but he didn’t mind in the least. It always cracked him up to see her reaction to Mark calling someone else ma’am.

  Everett arrived, dressed in the same suit he’d worn for the men’s collaring. As everyone gathered on Tilly’s lanai for the ceremony, Lara kissed Brad. “I think that’s my cue.”

  “And Mark’s.”

  Everett had asked Lara to be his best man, and Wylie had asked Mark to be his.

  Brad hoped Mark realized what an honor that was, and how much respect Wylie had for him to do that.

  Jacob, now alone, eased over next to Brad. “Thanks for bringing me.”

  Brad patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, they kind of see you as part of the family, too. So do I.” Jacob was still shorter than him by a few inches. The boy smiled up at him.

  Considering the boy took after his father, who was six five, Brad suspected Jacob still had some growing to do.

  He didn’t know if the boys were being sneaky about things. He and Jacob’s parents had both talked to the boys, given them information, and had to trust them. When the boys were over at their house, Jacob was once again spending nights in what had been converted to the guest room.

  At least if the boys were sneaking around, there wasn’t any worry about an unintended pregnancy. And after showing the boys pictures of what could happen if they didn’t practice safe sex, various nasty STIs and their effects, he felt reasonably sure the boys would use condoms if they weren’t going to stay exclusive.

  Everett’s dad had insisted on walking Wylie down the aisle, arm in arm and everything. They were following Leo’s daughter, Laurel, who apparently had cornered the market on being the flower girl for any weddings held among people she considered friends and family. It was freaking adorable. Olive and Otto had adopted Wylie, as had Eve, much in the same way they’d welcomed him and Mark into their lives.

  Wylie wore the same suit he’d worn for their collaring, and as Brad glanced around, he spotted a few now-mutual friends who were also kinky. Like Everett’s boss, Leo, and Leo’s family, among others.

  But today, with kids and vanilla family in attendance, it was a semi-traditional wedding ceremony. Since the men had said their vows to each other for the collaring, they’d let Loren use a standard ceremony for today.

  Except Brad caught the one key difference, and was sure plenty of others in attendance had, as well.

  Everett got to say “…love, honor, and care for…” while Wylie’s vow went, “love, honor, and obey.”

  Tilly, who’d walked up next to him without him realizing it at first, had her young daughter riding on her hip. She caught Brad’s eye and winked, making him smile.

  He winked back, and didn’t say anything as she moved to stand next to Cris and Landry.

  “…I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss your man, mister.”

  Everett gave Wylie a brief, family-friendly peck on the lips before they hugged. He saw Everett whispering something to Wylie, and suspected it was not very vanilla.

  He was happy for them. Truly, honestly happy. They deserved it, and Wylie especially, after Everett had confessed a small fraction of what Ralph had apparently put Wylie through before they’d broken up.

  Then Everett turned to Lara and they shared a whispered moment before he kissed her, followed by a long hug.

  This had to be melancholy for both of them, and he got that. He didn’t feel the slightest bit jealous of her relationship with Everett.

  Especially not after he’d learned how losing her brother to suicide had nearly destroyed her.

  In fact, he’d be foreve
r thankful to the man for standing by her side, not putting his needs above hers. For taking care of her.

  Had he not, who knew if she might not even be there now for them to have met in the first place?

  Once the ceremony was over, the buffet, catering from Mama Suarez’s, was opened for everyone. Lara rejoined Brad and hooked her arm through his before rising up on her toes for a kiss.

  “You look happy, Ma’am.”

  “I am.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For getting along with them. Not every man would be so charitable.”

  He took her by the hand and led her off to a quiet corner. “Lar, I promise, I will never get between you and Ev. He and Wylie are kind of like the brothers I never had. You’re not the only one who ended up with an instant family when we got together.”

  She hugged him tightly. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” she whispered.

  Yes, they’d finally found the courage to say it to each other a few weeks back. As he held her, he buried his face in her hair. “I love you, too, Ma’am. More than I can begin to tell you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Mark and Jacob headed across the road on horseback late Sunday afternoon to go take care of the stock, check the fence line for Wylie and Everett, and then cut and retrieve a pregnant heifer for Mark’s dad. At least Jacob’s riding skills had strengthened, so Mark wasn’t as worried about him as he had been when he’d first taught Jacob to ride.

  Although he still gave him Hera. The gentle Appaloosa was a great starter horse for any new rider.

  His dad and Lara had encouraged them to take as long as they wanted. No rush.

  And to call once they’d found the heifer and were on their way back.

  “I think they wanted alone time,” Jacob said as Mark dismounted, unlocked the combination padlock, and walked his horse through after letting Jacob go first.

  Mark laughed. “Smart thinking, Captain Obvious. Dad’s crazy about Lara.” While it would have been easier to leave the gate open and unlocked for their return, he locked it behind them, remembering his dad’s admonition about the crazy guy who’d been annoying Wylie awhile back.