Constructing Love Read online

  She held onto his hips and he cupped her cheeks. “Now tell me how this isn’t a good idea, that you don’t feel what we all feel. Go on, try to,” he pushed, and she closed her eyes. He released her cheeks and hugged her to him.

  “What’s going on over here?” Hunter asked and she pulled back and wiped her lips.

  “Just convincing Madeline to stay a while longer with all of us,” Tatum said as he used his thumb to gently stroke her lip.

  She stared up at him. “Tatum, this is a lot to take in.”

  Hunter took her hand and pressed closer. “I think she needs more convincing,” Hunter said and kissed her as he brought her a little deeper into the darkness. Tatum chuckled and kept watch as Hagan, Jedda, and then Maximus came outside, too.

  Hunter towered over Madeline. She was lost in his arms, feminine, sexy, and holy God, he felt so much it was shocking. He kissed her as he wanted to since listening to her talk, following her lips, and staring into those gorgeous green eyes. He plunged his tongue deeply, and cupped her ass, squeezing her to him so she could feel how hard his cock was. She moaned into his mouth and then tightened up as someone else joined in. She softened the moment his brother Jedda spoke.

  “I want to taste her lips, feel what it’s like to have this gorgeous sexy woman in my arms, so share, brother. Share,” Jedda said.

  Hunter slowly released her lips and turned her toward Jedda. She took a deep breath but then Jedda cupped her cheeks and kissed her. She ran her hands up his chest and Jedda pulled her into his arms, cupped her ass and under her hair, and devoured her moans. They were having one hell of a make out session right here on the back deck of Mulligan’s.

  “Share, Jedda,” Hagan said, and Hunter just watched in excitement as Jedda released her lips and she immediately turned toward Hagan and kissed him. Hagan cupped her hair and neck with one hand and ran his palm along her ass with his other hand just as they all had done. He kissed her and pressed her to the wall, then kissed along her neck until Maximus tapped Hagan on the shoulder.

  “The best for last,” Maximus said in that deep, hard tone of his.

  Hagan released her lips and stroked her jaw. “You are a beauty and then some.” He pulled back and Maximus gripped the hem of her blouse and tugged her against him. She ran her palms up his chest and held his gaze. “You have got to be the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” He pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her gingerly, softly in exploration. Then he slid his palms down her arms to her wrists as he plunged his tongue in deeply and she moaned as he restrained her with one hand. With his other, Maximus maneuvered it under her skirt and against her thigh. He lifted it and rocked his hips against her mound. It was too dark to see much, but from what Hunter cold tell, Madeline was wearing either no panties or very tiny ones as Maximus’s large palm slid along her ass to the crack.

  She pulled back. “Maximus, slow down.” She panted.

  “Fuck.” He exhaled against her neck and they calmed their breathing. Maximus didn’t release her or the hold he had on her ass and hip. Her skirt to her waist, he continued to massage her. Their gazes locked. “Don’t move. Just stay right here like this a little longer,” he said and kissed along her neck, and her jaw, then lower to her breasts.

  “Maximus, release my hands. We have to slow down.”

  He growled low and they all chuckled.

  “You okay, sexy?” Maximus asked as he lowered her leg and helped her with her skirt and her blouse.

  “I’d say I need another drink, but since I need to drive home, I’ll pass.”

  “We can drive you home,” Tatum said to her.

  “Not going to happen, Sheriff. As is, this was completely unexpected, and I think we need to put on the brakes,” she said as she fixed herself up the rest of the way and then fixed her lips.

  “There ya go trying to push us away again. Don’t you realize how awesome this is? That this is the beginning of something great?” Jedda said to her.

  “I don’t really know what this is, but I do know I have to protect my heart. I can’t just accept this. It’s unreal,” she said, and Maximus pulled her back into his arms.

  “It is real, and it’s happening. I don’t know what dick hurt you, but we aren’t him. We’re also a bit older than you, and that maturity makes us reliable because we’re too old for fucking games, and we know what we want, and that’s you. We don’t pussy foot around nothing, around no one. Not just because we’re Marines, but also because we’re men who take on challenges head on. You ready to go head on with us and resist because you’re scared, because some dick broke your heart, then so be it. I’m ready,” he said to her.

  Her eyes widened and Hunter realized that Maximus was onto something. She was holding back and really hesitant to let down her guard and believe them.

  She stared up into Maximus’s eyes. She took several breaths and he held her tight.

  “Maximus is speaking for all of us. We all want this. Want to see where it goes,” Tatum said to her as he stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She made a noise, almost a soft moan as she closed her eyes.

  “You’re shaking, sweetie. Why?”

  Hunter was right there, too. She looked at him and then at Hagan and Jedda.

  “I have a lot to think about. Decisions I need to make, not be forced to make because I’m so attracted to the five of you. God, five men the size of you. I’m having palpitations,” she admitted with her hand over her chest.

  They chuckled. Tatum kissed her neck. “You don’t think you give us palpitations when we’re this close, kissing you, touching you, wanting to explore every inch of you? But then pull back because we’ve never felt so much, too?” he asked.

  “No,” she said and chuckled.

  Tatum snickered. “Baby, you don’t even know how perfect you are.” She held his gaze with her chin and head tilted up toward him. He pressed his lips to hers softly before releasing them.

  “Plans. Let’s make some so we can get more comfortable and learn more about one another,” Maximus chimed in. She looked at him and he reached up and stroked her jaw. “What do you say?”

  “Okay, but slow. I have a lot on my plate right now, and we all need to find out who is responsible for these accidents that are taking place and why.”

  “We’ll handle that investigation, sweetheart. You handle what you need to,” Tatum said.

  Hunter couldn’t resist, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again before making plans to spend time getting to know her. It was pretty obvious that the Lantern brothers found their woman and there was no way they were going to let her go.

  Chapter 5

  “Broaden Young has a sexy woman like this working for him and he isn’t banging her?” Mo Banks asked and chuckled as he looked at the pictures Jerry and Bucky had gotten of her.

  “I don’t think so. Seems the sheriff and his brothers have taken a liking to her. She showed up at Mulligan’s for the first time the other night and they were all over her, keeping her within their circle. I spotted her right away, was going to make her my bitch for the night, and Tatum comes up behind her wraps his arm around her waist and warns me to move on like she was his possession.”

  Mo squinted his eyes. “He’s banging her, too? That fucking guy and his brothers have all the ladies around town wanting to fuck them.”

  “I don’t think so. She looked shocked and she even pressed away from him, but she’s a woman. Weak, controllable, and they kept her right where they wanted her,” Bucky said to him.

  “She is a sexy little number. Big up top, too.”

  “The pictures don’t do her justice. She’s real high class, sophisticated looking and dresses the same way,” Jerry added.

  “She would look good on a successful businessman’s arm,” Bucky said.

  “She would look good on her hands and knees pleasing her man,” Mo said and stroked the picture. He put it down on the desk. Bucky and Jerry chuckled in agreement.

  “As muc
h as I would love to screw with the Lantern family some more, I can’t right now. My cousin is on my ass, so we cool it for a bit,” Mo told them.

  “So how will you get your revenge then?” Bucky asked.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Randy and Pierre are working on this job we’re going to take right out from underneath Lantern Contracting’s grasp. There will be just a few things we have to manipulate but it will work, and we can start focusing on doing that construction job. We’ll all be busy. It was part of why I was gone for a few days. Now we just need to be a little patient,” he said and glanced back at the picture on the desk. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get the job and even take the girl, too.” He chuckled.

  “I don’t know about that. Those Lantern men are pretty bad ass. Marines, Special Operations and shit. We’ve heard stories. That’s why no one fucks with the sheriff,” Jerry stated as he chewed on a toothpick.

  Mo felt his anger rise. He sat forward. “He isn’t that fucking tough. Nothing a bullet can’t take care of.”

  “Whoa, I’m not shooting any cops,” Bucky said.

  “Fuck them. I wouldn’t mind shooting that prick,” Jerry said and Mo smirked.

  “I guess Jerry has bigger balls than you, Bucky,” Mo teased.

  “Fuck you, I’m not stupid. You shoot a cop, a sheriff like Tatum Lantern who has the backing of his brothers and all those military friends, and you got a death wish for sure. Not me. I’ll continue working construction while you two can sit behind bars, or six feet under. Men like that make people disappear,” Bucky said straight faced.

  “Men like me can make people disappear as well. In fact, you should remember you helped me. Now would not be the time to deny anything I ask.”

  “You fucking threatening me, Mo?”

  “A promise, my friend. We’re bound by our actions. I’m just saying, if it came to shooting that fuck, I’d do it. Hell, I’d do it to fuck the brunette. She’s special.”

  Jerry chuckled.

  “I’m in. Those dicks look at me like I’m pond scum. Fuck ‘em,” Jerry said.

  Mo smiled. Let’s see where the cards fall and take it from there.”

  “Mom, seriously? I just confided in you and this is what you say to me?”

  “Well, sweetie, of course I’m going to think about that sex. Five men? For crying out loud, dealing with one extra-large Marine like your father was a handful and a half. Six kids and you’re all grown up in your twenties and thirties, and your father is still a beast in the bedroom.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud, Mom. I don’t want to hear this.” Mary Ann Lamort chuckled.

  “You haven’t been happy for quite some time. I knew that Bentley wasn’t right for you. He was obsessed and controlling. If your father knew he’d struck you, that man wouldn’t be walking this earth. Your brothers too would have killed him.”

  “Don’t I know it, but Bentley doesn’t matter.”

  “Obviously he does if you’re giving these men a hard time about dating or whatever because of what Bentley did to hurt you and your trust in any man.”

  “I didn’t think it would be so hard, or that I would think about how vulnerable I felt, how weak. I’m not a weak person, but I was so shocked when Bentley cheated on me and then struck me like he did. I hesitated.”

  “Not for long. You broke his nose.”

  “He was going to try and destroy my reputation and charge me with assault.”

  “He didn’t though because you were, and are smarter, than him. You kept info on his businesses and what you feared he was into and it helped to resolve any further problems with him.”

  “Not entirely,” she said and curled her legs underneath her on the couch in her living room.

  “What does that mean?” her mom asked.

  “I might have left some things out.”

  “Maddy, seriously? Tell me.”

  “Let’s just say that Bentley stalked me, harassed me, and tried to ruin my career. He made it so that even my social scene was on edge and guys were resistant to even flirt. Bentley would send someone to threaten them. It went on for a while, and Candice introduced me to Broaden one night at a private dinner party. We started talking and then he offered me this job. I’m thrilled and thinking things are finally going to change. I’m ready to get the hell out of Dallas, when Broaden asks me to meet him for a meeting with concerns. My heart feels like it’s in my gut when I show up anticipating that he is going to fire me before I even start when he asks about Bentley. I lose it. I start pouring out my soul to him in frustration and tell him what he’s done. Broaden comforts me and says, “I always hated that asshole. You broke his nose, which means your tough and I think you’re perfect for this position.” And then he starts talking to me about salary, about starting immediately and I’m in. Broaden gave me the opportunity to break free from Bentley and his bullshit.”

  “Oh God, Maddy, you should have told us, told your father or your brothers.”

  “Then what? Have them be charged with assault or, God forbid, murder.”

  “They wouldn’t have killed him but probably would have scared the piss out of him. That lousy piece of shit. He thinks money rules the world.”

  “He isn’t anywhere remotely financially close to where Broaden is, and I’m doing pretty damn good for myself.”

  “I’d say so, that you can retire at twenty-five,” her mom said.

  Madeline leaned back against the cushion. “I don’t know what to do, Mom.”

  “Sure, you do. You feel an equal attraction to five men. They feel it for you, come from a family of a ménage, so they know what it entails.”

  “I don’t know what it entails. Aunt Beverly and Louisa’s mom are the only two women I personally know ever who’ve engaged in ménages.”

  “And look how happy they are. You were friends with other people whose parents were in ménages.”

  “I know, I just never really considered one for myself.”

  “But you are considering it now.”

  “I’m scared to. Scared of how independent and strong I thought I was as a Marine’s daughter, as a well-trained woman, and what Bentley was able to do to me to destroy all that.”

  “He didn’t destroy it. He used the love you had for him against you. You gave your all and he took advantage.”

  “It still hurt though. He made me question my capabilities.”

  “You got out of that relationship and you’ve moved on with your life and are successful. You broke his nose. You didn’t cower, you fought back.”

  “But there are five, Mom. Five huge Marines no less. What if…

  “They struck you? That’s what you’re afraid of?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you talked to them about it, about Bentley?”

  “God, no. I told you how things went.”

  “You got hot and heavy with them in the back corner of a porch at a bar, I think you can talk to them about deeper emotions to see where they stand and what their reactions will be.”

  “Mom, it just isn’t so easy. It’s why when I went out on dates with a couple of other guys that it didn’t work out or lead to other dates.”

  “They weren’t right for you. Maybe this is a better relationship for you. One where you can be catered to by five men, cared for, appreciated, encouraged. They are Marines, and you said their fathers and uncles are very nice and respectful men. You explained that they seem very family oriented. Your father and I aren’t getting any younger, and it would be nice to have some grandchildren running around soon.”