Rachel was no longer giving her a massage, at least not that kind. As she slid her hands under Marcie, Marcie dropped her forehead to the lounger. Jon’s wife cupped her breasts, fingers closing over her nipples, tweaking the piercings.
“Oh…God…” It didn’t take any time at all. She was pushing against Dana’s face, her fingers now grabbing Savannah’s wrists so they were holding each other. Then Rachel’s touch slid back to her shoulder blades, up into her hair. At the key moment, as her lower belly was coiling up tight, tighter, Rachel dug into her scalp, pulled hard on her hair. The way Ben would if he was fucking her, to pull her head up and back.
She came hard, intense, fast. It shuddered through her, head to toe. It was a purely physical release, but there was an emotional purging involved, something the women obviously knew she needed. Taking out the trash, so tomorrow she could look around the psyche and see what was there.
She threw her head back farther, neck arching with the power of the climax. It was then Rachel caught her jaw, taking that kiss Marcie had wanted at her house that day. It was so startling and unexpected, Marcie stilled, quivering in the aftershocks even as she explored the shape and pleasure a woman’s lips could offer, an easy girl kiss. It was like cotton candy at the fair, a treat perfect when the environment was just right, and in this moment, it was. When she murmured something incoherent, Savannah’s fingers joined Rachel’s in her hair. She stroked gently while Rachel kept giving her tugs that made those aftershocks a steady bump of little waves through her body.
Slowly, they eased her back to her stomach, Rachel breaking the kiss to sweep her hands over her back and shoulders, resuming the massage. Savannah kept stroking her hair. She was falling into lassitude, until a sharp pinch made her yelp. Her gaze snapped down to Dana, who gave her an impish look. The woman picked up another piece of ice, soothed the little bite of pain.
“Know you appreciate the sadistic side, girlfriend. Didn’t want to leave you unbalanced.”
“Jesus,” she breathed. “Some minister.”
“Ministration comes in all forms, love.”
She managed a snort, but she was well and truly limp now. She mumbled something appropriate, no idea what. Eyes closing, she gave herself back to their hands.
Cass came back a few minutes after the cries subsided. The cookies were in the oven, but she knew her sister wouldn’t be eating them until later. Marcie was fast asleep, so deeply her arm had fallen off the side of the lounger, the way it had when she was ten. Tenderly, she knelt by Dana, tucked it into a folded position under Marcie’s chin. Glancing at Savannah, she gestured, then helped the woman move over to a corner of the sun porch, out of hearing distance, in case Marcie drifted back to consciousness.
“Matt’s spoken to Max since we talked. He confirmed what Max told us. He’s never seen Ben like this. He thinks whatever he’s been carrying inside him the past couple years may have ruptured, or at least cracked pretty hard. He told Matt the guys should go look for him, because he doesn’t think he should be alone.”
Savannah nodded, studied her tense face. “You’re her sister, Cass. What do you think?”
“Matt asked me the same question.” Cass sighed, shook her head. “I know she’s loved him since she was sixteen years old. He’s every woman’s fantasy, but I don’t know if he has what it takes to be a woman’s reality. To be what Lucas and Matt are to us. We’ve always known he’s the extreme one, Savannah. The one who carries the most demons. As her sister, it scares me to think of her exposed to that.” She gave a tight smile. “At the moment, I want him dismembered and his body dumped in a swamp.”
“I don’t blame you.”
Cass raised a brow. “There’s something you want to say, but you’re not sure it’s appropriate.”
“Using your negotiator skills on me?”
“Always. I’d miss good stuff if I didn’t.” Cass sobered though, glancing at the sleeping woman, the focus of their concern. “Tell me something that will make this all right, Savannah. Something that gives me hope of a happy ending.”
“I believe Marcie is right. I think she is the one for Ben, the same way each of us has been for our husbands. Only they accepted the truth of that first, pursued us, convinced us of it. With some rather tempting and unorthodox methods.”
Cass managed an amused eye roll. “A huge understatement.”
Savannah nodded. “Ben had a very different history from the other men. He’s never let a woman get close enough to hurt him. He has surrogates, the wives of his friends, safe targets for his affections, but it’s different from having a woman of his own. He’s armored against that level of intimacy, and behind that armor is a lot of darkness. Marcie had a way in no woman has ever had.”
“Through our family connection.”
“Correct.” Savannah shifted on the footstool, adjusting swollen ankles onto the brace beneath Cass’ chair. “We know these men have many traits in common. One of them is possessiveness, though they pretend to be civilized about it.”
Cass snorted. “No disagreement here.”
Savannah acknowledged that with a wry twist of her lips. “We love them, belong to them utterly, consider them ours as well. Ben is just as possessive and protective about what he considers his. However, he doesn’t trust women, because the woman he was supposed to trust unconditionally, from his first breath in this world, abandoned and betrayed him. If his unconscious self recognized Marcie as his soul mate, seeing her with those two men tonight perhaps ripped something open that he’s kept locked down for far too long.”
“She’s always had more bravery than sense,” Cass said. “But he had no
