Good Enough to Share (Good Enough, Book 1 - Christmas) (8 page)

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.

“Yup. One note
saying
I have to go, it’s for the best, trust me and one day you’ll be
pleased I did
. Anyhow it’s water under the bridge, it was ages ago.”
Another swig of wine. “You live and learn as they say.”

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.