Brown, Berengaria - Tempting Tenealle (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  “Mine aren’t anything special. I might end up with a much nicer pair,” Tenealle joked.

  The food was yummy, the company pleasant, the sun shone brightly, and Faris found himself enjoying the party and Tenealle’s myriad cousins. They seemed a pretty normal bunch, and entertaining to talk to, although he had to acknowledge it was unusual to go to a party where almost everyone seemed to be related to everyone else. He was also totally confused about the reason for the party. He’d assumed it was for her graduation—hadn’t Herbert said something about her being almost graduated?—but she had not quite finished her studies, and it wasn’t her birthday, and she didn’t seem to be engaged to the young man with her whose name he couldn’t remember. But he guessed it wouldn’t be smart to ask Tenealle any leading questions until they got home.

  Around 6:00 p.m., people started to leave, so they said their good-byes and collected their shoes. Tenealle slipped hers on, then stood talking to Herb, Delores, and Emma for a brief moment.

  Tenealle slid her feet out of her shoes again.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Faris.

  “I don’t know. My feet are burning. They feel really strange.”

  Mark, the huge cousin, grabbed Tenealle, threw her over his shoulder, then tossed her into the swimming pool, yelling, “That’ll cool you down. I’ve been wanting to throw someone in all day.”

  Faris raced over to the pool, but Tenealle was just standing there, shaking water out of her hair and laughing. “Damn you, Mark. I’ll get you for that one day!”

  Evan looked like he wanted to punch Mark, and Faris felt much the same, but since Tenealle was holding her sides and laughing, he figured starting a fight wasn’t the right way to respond.

  Evan must have disagreed with Faris’s logic. He hip-and-shouldered Mark, who was still standing on the edge of the pool, and the big man fell in with a mountainous splash.

  Some of the younger cousins started screaming as the water drenched them, and within moments, bodies were flying through the air, and the pool was filling up with fully clad people, most of them laughing uproariously.

  Tenealle climbed out of the pool. “Unless you two fancy a swim, I think now would be a good time to leave.”

  Faris grabbed Tenealle, Evan picked up her shoes, Herb handed her a pool towel to wrap around herself, and they walked back down the long driveway to the street, where they’d parked the car.

  “Come on, honey. Let’s get you out of those wet things,” said Faris.

  “Oh yeah. Sounds like a very good plan,” added Evan.

  “Men. One-track minds.” Tenealle was still laughing.

  “My hand is hurting,” said Evan, stopping in the middle of the path.

  “What?”

  “My hand,” Evan repeated, swapping Tenealle’s shoes into his other hand to look at his sore hand carefully. “My fingers are burning.”

  “Damn. Has one of my idiot cousins put itching powder in everyone’s shoes or something?”

  “Not itching. Burning,” said Evan, dropping her shoes and running back up the driveway toward the house.

  Tenealle bent down to pick up her shoes, but Faris stopped her. “Don’t touch them.” He squatted down and looked carefully inside her shoes. He could see a very faint trace of powder or something on the insides. He pulled off his T-shirt, wrapped her shoes in it, then settled her in the car wrapped in her towel and put the shoes in the trunk.

  “Are your feet hot?” she asked.

  “Nope.” He kicked off a shoe and looked inside it. “Looks and feels perfectly normal to me.”

  “Just one of the younger cousins being silly then.”

  “Well I don’t know. Evan didn’t hold your shoes for very long before he felt his fingers burning.”

  “I hope he’s okay. Should we go back and check on him?”

  “He’s coming now,” said Faris, watching in the rearview mirror.

  “Are you okay?” they chorused as Evan got in the car.

  “Yeah, I just washed my hands thoroughly. We need to check what’s in her shoes, though. If it was meant as a joke, it’s not very funny.”

  There was a few moments’ silence as Faris turned the car around and they headed for his and Evan’s apartment.

  “I didn’t want to seem like a moron there, but what exactly were we celebrating?”

  “It was a party for Emma. I thought I explained that. And you bought her flowers,” Tenealle replied, confused.

  “Yeah, we got that. But why? Why was Emma having a party?” asked Evan.

  “Oh. Because she’s pretty much finished college. She just has a couple of classes to finalize. Then she’ll graduate.”

  “So won’t there be a party when she graduates?” Faris was even more puzzled now.

  “Of course she’ll have a graduation party.”

  “So why the party today? I don’t get it.”

  “Herb and Delores love throwing parties. Emma is excited by almost being finished school. It seemed a good enough reason.”

  Faris and Evan looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Finally Evan said, “Your family is weird.”

  “Absolutely! I thought you already knew that.”

  They all laughed. And Faris realized they did that a lot. With Tenealle around, happiness was guaranteed, and lots of laughter was part of the package.

  But he would definitely get the powder in her shoes analyzed. One of her cousins needed a slap upside the head, and he was just the man to deliver it.

  Chapter Four

  The final paperwork was signed, and the Domain was officially Tenealle’s. She summoned a horde of cousins, who helped her move into her new home, oohed and aahed over it, told her how to fix it, ate a ton of pizzas, then left.

  By the end of the day, the pizza delivery boy was Tenealle’s newest best friend, her possessions were all where she wanted them, her bedroom walls had been washed, sanded, filled, and painted with two coats of sea green paint. Matching sea green drapes hung at the sparkling clean windows, overlooking a courtyard garden that had been pruned, weeded, swept, and the fountain had been scrubbed clean and refilled.

  “Did your aunt have any trouble with cats getting the fish in her fountain?” Tenealle asked Evan.

  “No. As far as I know, the fish only ever died of natural causes. I know you said you thought a cat might get out and get lost, but that wall is very high and sheer, with no way to climb it, so I don’t think it’s very likely. But then, if you have a cat of your own, you’d need to cover the fountain to protect your fish. If you decide to have fish,” was Evan’s rather rambling reply.

  “I’d rather have a little dog than a cat, but I will have fish in the fountain. It’s kind of crazy, but it’s my kind of crazy. I like the idea,” she replied.

  Faris had been waiting until they were alone, not just to test-drive the new king-size bed the three of them had purchased together a week ago, but also to tell her the results of the analysis on her shoes. She’d never mentioned her shoes, although she had to realize he’d never given them back to her. Plus, he and Evan had kept a close watch on all the cousins today. The last thing they wanted was any more strange powders in her bedding, clothes, or food. Fortunately the cousins had worked in teams, with no one alone for more than a few seconds, as groups of them had banded together to fetch, carry, clean, paint, and garden.

  But now, he didn’t quite know how to broach the subject. “Um, honey, about your shoes…”

  “Ah, I wondered when you’d get around to talking about that. It was just my imagination, wasn’t it?”

  “No, not quite.”

  “Well, what then?”

  “Drain cleaner,” Faris and Evan said together.

  “Drain cleaner?” she echoed.

  “Yep. Very caustic. Will burn your skin quite nastily. But not poisonous unless swallowed.”

  “Well I was hardly likely to lick the inside my shoes, was I?”

  “Oooh, kinky! Seriously, one of your cousins needs a reality check. I
t was a pretty stupid thing to do.”

  “I wonder if it was even meant for me. Maybe they mistook my shoes for someone else’s. After all, there were a lot of shoes in that pile,” she said thoughtfully.

  “I guess that’s possible. But I agree with Faris. It was a stupid thing to do, and the culprit needs to be caught and slapped some.”

  “But how could we find out? Everyone left their shoes in the pile, then picked them up. It could be anyone.”

  “Not quite. It had to be someone who knew which shoes were yours. Who was standing around watching when we arrived?” asked Evan.

  “It’s weeks ago. How would I know now? And they may have mistaken my shoes for someone else’s anyway.”

  “Let’s assume for the moment that they deliberately targeted you. Come on, try to remember. Herbert and Delores were greeting the guests. Emma was out by the barbecue pit.”

  Tenealle frowned for a moment, obviously thinking. “There was a group of younger guys over on one side. Herb didn’t bother to introduce you to them. One was Emma’s boyfriend, Steve, and there was Jodie’s boyfriend, Clint, and a couple of others. Younger cousins. Let me think. Oh, of course, it was Nate and Nick, the Terrible Twosome. Yeah, well, they’re ripe for mischief for sure.”

  “See how easy that was? Now, I think it’s time to christen your new bedroom. You aren’t too tired, are you?” Faris was suddenly aware that it had been a long day, and maybe he was pushing her.

  “I’m never too tired for you two. But I think we need a good shower first.”

  “Not a problem. A horde of girl cousins had your bathroom shiny clean hours ago. Let’s go then,” said Evan.

  The bathroom was indeed clean, but sadly in need of retiling. “You know, I think I’ll pull out the fixtures and put a Jacuzzi in here. The room is plenty big enough for that, as well as a sink and toilet, and there’s a shower in the small bathroom off the office.”

  “Oh yeah, a Jacuzzi. That does sound good. But meanwhile, this shower will work just fine to get the sweat off us,” said Faris.

  “Uh-huh. Then you’ll make me sweaty all over again,” she laughed.

  “That’s the plan.” Faris’s cock was harder than the tiles on the floor. His pants suddenly felt way too tight, and he had to unzip them slowly for fear he’d do himself an injury. Finally his cock sprang free of the confining jeans, but that was no relief. She’d peeled her shirt off, and one glance at those luscious breasts of hers had his damn dick throbbing even harder.

  Faris looked at Evan. Evan had one leg out of his jeans, and his tongue was about hanging out as he looked at Faris’s cock. Evan’s cock was huge, too, and ready for action.

  Faris looked at Evan again and raised an eyebrow, hoping his partner understood he wanted to be the middle of the ménage this time. Evan’s slight nod seemed to imply he had.

  Faris hurried to rip the rest of his clothes off and get his hands on delicious Tenealle. God, that woman is hot. And always so ready and willing for us no matter what games we want to play. I think I love— no. No way. I’m not going there! It’s way too soon for that.

  Evan had set the water running and grabbed condoms for them both. Faris rifled through the sink drawer for the lube and briefly wondered what the girl cousins had thought about that.

  Then all three of them were in the shower, under the water, and sharing in a group hug. The three-way kiss was sloppy and made even sloppier by the warm water spraying down over them all. Their mouths and noses meshed together, tongues flicking in and out of each others’ mouths, arms and hands gripping and patting whoever they could reach.

  But Faris was way too desperate to fuck and be fucked to spend very long playing. He turned Tenealle to the wall, and she instantly braced herself on her forearms, pushing her ass out toward him and watching the two men over her shoulder.

  Faris hastily took a condom from Evan and rolled it down his cock, wishing he’d had the forethought to do it before he got under the water, as he noticed Evan had done. Ah well, too bad. He certainly wasn’t going to take the time to dry his penis now, and it rolled on okay anyway.

  Damn, Tenealle looked hot leaning against the tile wall and watching over her shoulder, her beautiful red-brown hair turning a darker shade as it became wet. He could see one lovely, plump breast, but it was her ass that drew his gaze. It was round and pert, and totally delicious. Gently, he smoothed a hand across her ass cheek, enjoying the silky feeling of her soft skin kissed by water droplets. He let his hand explore across her hip, then around her groin, and at last his fingers sank into her pussy.

  Hot, so hot. And tight. So very tight. He couldn’t wait a moment longer. He rested his hand across her mons, the fingers along her slit, and used his other hand to guide his aching, throbbing cock deep inside her welcoming pussy. Oh yes. That felt so very, very good.

  Faris pushed deep inside Tenealle, until his balls were hard against her upper thighs and his belly rested against her luscious ass. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her jawline, then pressed his finger on her clit as he spread his legs and braced himself to accept Evan.

  He knew Evan was as needy and anxious as he was, so guessed there wouldn’t be much preparation of his ass. But it didn’t worry him. He didn’t mind the bite of pain with his pleasure from time to time, and his cock was aching, burning to get moving.

  Tenealle was waggling her hips and pressing back into him, so he was pleased to feel a slippery finger invade his ass. Holding Tenealle hard against him with a hand on her hip, he pressed them both back into Evan’s finger.

  He smelled a girly, flowery scent and realized that the lube may have been provided by the female cousins, but couldn’t care. At least it covered up the pervading aroma of cleaning products and bleach. Then Evan was teasing and tormenting his ass, pressing the gel into the walls of his rectum and widening his channel.

  Faris kept Tenealle pressed to him, but she was wiggling and driving him mad with the urge to pump into her. The double torment of being inside her and having Evan’s fingers inside himself was destroying the last vestiges of his control.

  “Enough! Just do it,” he groaned.

  “About time,” said Tenealle, trying to escape his hold.

  Finally Evan pressed inside him, and he had to count backward by threes from fifty to stop himself coming on the spot. Evan’s hands rested on his hips, and together he and Evan withdrew, then plunged back in, pulled out, and pushed in, getting a synchronized rhythm going.

  Evan moved one hand from Faris’s hip to Tenealle’s waist, while Faris kept his hand on Tenealle’s clit and rotated the other back to grab Evan’s butt. Tenealle rested her head on the tiles and wrapped both her arms backward as far as she could reach, enclosing the three of them into a unit.

  Faris didn’t know whether it was water from the shower or sweat, but his body was hot and slick as Evan jackhammered in and out of him and he pistoned into Tenealle in the same time and rhythm, keeping in beat with Evan. They were ramping up the pace, moving faster and faster, thrusting harder and deeper.

  Tenealle was panting against the wall, and he slid his fingers along her slit. He could already feel the rippling beginnings of her orgasm grabbing at his cock.

  His balls were pulled up hard and tight against his body, and his spine had started to tingle. No amount of control could hold off his orgasm much longer.

  Then Evan gave a shout, and Faris felt a flood of heat in his ass as Evan came. He relaxed his control and pinched Tenealle’s clit. They both came together, his cock pumping jet after jet of cum into the condom in her, and her cunt rippling and milking him as Evan’s cock still spurted into his ass.

  The three relaxed against each other for a moment, all panting. Then the men withdrew and got rid of their condoms before pulling Tenealle in for a group hug, sandwiching her in the middle of them this time.

  “That was unbelievable. I could feel everything. Every pulse from Evan into Faris was transferred from him to me. It was awesome, just awesome,” she said,
leaning into their arms. “And the shower water hasn’t even run cold yet. Ha! That’ll be perfect next time Tim visits.”

  Tim? Faris didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. But who cared? His man and his woman were both in his arms, and life was very, very good.

  * * * *

  “I think I might call Adam Titus today and talk to him about following through on that drain cleaner thing,” Evan said, flicking a look at Faris as he drove them both to work.

  “Why talk to him? About what in particular?”

  “Well I can’t exactly go up to Tenealle’s cousins and tell them they need a punch in the face, can I? But I can’t let it rest either. What if one of the idiots tries to hurt her again? Even worse, what if they succeed? It’d kill me if she was hurt.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Faris. “It’d kill me, too. But I reckon she’s going to get hurt anyway when she understands one of her cousins really did try to harm her. I don’t think she believes that at all, as yet.”

  “You’re right. For all her grumbling, she loves the whole goddamn pack of them. Seventy-two cousins. Sheesh!”

  “But that’s what makes it so weird. Why hurt her? Why her out of the entire crowd? You don’t think it’s anything to do with us, do you? Some moral campaigner among the cousins?”

  “No. Those young guys didn’t strike me as moral puritans, judging by the looks they were giving the girls, and their language,” replied Evan.

  “It probably wouldn’t hurt to find out a bit more about the ones she called the Terrible Twosome. Nate and Nick, wasn’t it? She seemed to think they were ripe for mischief.”

  “Yeah. Sounds like a plan. I just hope she doesn’t think I’m spying on her, that’s all.”

  * * * *

  Tenealle had found the only way to keep her work hours up, and make steady progress on fixing up the Domain, was to be very organized and focused. Since she was a scheduler, that worked best for her. She was at her desk, ready to work, at seven a.m. every day and kept her butt firmly in her chair until ten. Then she spent an hour doing chores and was back at work until one. She took her lunch break and spent an hour either planning her renovations, doing something herself, or pricing and choosing things. Frequently her lunch was eaten at her computer as she Googled furnishings, fabrics, or home project advice sites.