An idea occurred to Leesa. It wouldn’t surprise her one bit to discover that Grandma Kate had somehow known that Jason and Phillip were going to be arriving and had ordered this house made ready for them.
It was all she could do at that moment not to gasp out loud. Now there’s a sobering thought. These two men were not here because they wanted to be here for the long haul. They were here because they’d been given an offer to visit that they felt they couldn’t refuse. She’d be willing to bet—and she’d also bet that Kate Benedict had thought the same thing—that if a place to stay hadn’t been immediately available, ready to bring their suitcases into and unpack, Jason and Phillip would have declined.
Leesa struggled to focus on thumbing through the DVDs. You knew they weren’t going to be here forever. They’re just here for now. Did she want to continue down this path, knowing that it really was just temporary?
Yes.
Leesa knew she’d missed out on some things in life, which wasn’t unusual for anyone. People walked the paths they walked and knew what they knew from the doing.
There were some things she never would do or see personally. But Leesa had a hunger to know what it would be like to really make love. That hunger was likely deeper and wider as a result of what she’d been considering, since she’d come to Lusty, to be her sham of a marriage.
She had the opportunity to know what it was to spend time with two men—men who really saw her and who already considered her wants and needs more than her ex-husband ever had.
She tilted her head to the side. She needed to pull her head out of the past and live in the moment. “You’ve certainly got a good selection here, even musicals.” She stopped searching when she found a copy of the motion picture production of Les Misérables, starring Hugh Jackman. “I have wanted to see this since it came out!”
Jason looked at the DVD cover. “That’s a great choice. I’ve seen it, but it’s such a rich production seeing it once really isn’t enough.”
“Yeah, what J. Coop said.” Phillip held out his hand, and she gave him the disc.
Jason took her right hand and led her over to the sofa. She couldn’t hold back her sigh as she sank into the soft material. Phillip inserted the disc and used the controller to get it started. Then he turned the lights down very low before he came over and sat down on her left.
The two men had her between them, and she sighed again. Everything about this moment felt right and good. Temporary didn’t really matter. She’d married a man with the automatic assumption that it would be forever, and that sure hadn’t netted her anything but disappointment—and a black eye.
So she’d say yes to anything and everything these two men offered her and to hell with the consequences.
As the opening played, Leesa looked from Jason to Phillip.
“I haven’t seen many recent musicals, but Mom loves these kinds of movies, and growing up I would watch them with her. We both know the scores of so many of the classics.”
“So does my mom,” Phillip said. “What are your favorites?”
Leesa chuckled. “Where to start? Oklahoma!, Funny Girl, Singing in the Rain come to mind. And, of course, the annual Christmas Eve tradition of White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.”
“That’s one of Aunt April’s Christmas Eve traditions, too,” Jason said. He’d nodded to Phillip, but Leesa had already learned that Phillip’s mother’s name was April.
Leesa soon became lost in the story and in the subtle attention of the men who bracketed her. Her hands were held and kissed, and gentle caresses coursed down her arms and, yes, down her thighs. Her ear was kissed and nibbled on, as was her neck. Tiny, barely-there kisses graced her mouth, and Leesa licked her lips after each one so she could take their flavor in.
She struggled to keep her focus on the story that played out, and at the same time, she wanted to cherish every single moment of Jason’s and Phillip’s attention.
Each moment feels like more than I’ve ever known. This wasn’t even heavy petting. What would it be like after the movie?
“Are we distracting you?” Jason’s question tickled her ear.
“Yes. You both really are.”
“Good. Fires lit,” Phillip said. “We’ll just snuggle you close so they stay that way.”
They did just that, and once more, Leesa fell into the story of a time made immortal by the pen of Victor Hugo, in a tale written more than a hundred and fifty years before.
When her tears escaped, Jason handed her a couple of tissues. The plot played out, and her emotions became the slave of the story. And yet, those fires, now firm embers, kept her warm and grounded.
As the finale built to a crescendo, as once more the beloved characters, spirits now, sang of their hope for a new tomorrow, Leesa felt drained of emotion but strangely at peace.
“It was that final moment that got to me the first time I watched it,” Jason said quietly. Phillip had turned off the television but hadn’t gotten up from beside her.
“It is a moment,” she said. “I feel like I need to sit for a bit, just to sort it all out, and that’s not like me at all. Or rather, not how I’ve been for the last many years. Not since I enlisted and began my career.” But it had been her when she’d been a teen on the verge of womanhood.
Jason took her left hand in his right and brought it to his lips. Then he let go of her hand but put his arm around her and held her close.
“I’m going to get us something to sip on. Do you like
