Page 79 of Theirs to Treasure

“You are such a fixer,” Sam said as he threw his beer bottle in the recycling.

“Well…” Josie put her finger to her chin. “I have this one itty bitty problem.”

“Name it,” Chance said eagerly.

Over his shoulder, she saw Sam laugh.

“It seems that my sex education lessons have been put on hold recently and—”

Those were the last words she got out of her mouth for quite some time.

Chapter 30

Josie sighed as she felt the last buckle of her brace release, and then she was softly jostled and lowered. She realized she was in Chance’s strong arms, and they were now in the big whirlpool bathtub. She blinked up at him and smiled.

“Hi, beautiful! We thought a bath was a good idea for a couple of reasons.” He grinned down at her. Josie felt heat suffuse her face, and then realized Chance was blushing as well.

“I expect you to clean up my brace,” she teased.

“Oh, that’s a given, Zee. But in my defense, that whole thing was hot, and then when you bit me? Well, how much is a man supposed to be able to take?”

Josie saw actual bite marks where Chance’s neck met his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you really bad?” She looked contritely into his eyes.

Chance touched his neck and winced, biting his lower lip, cutting his eyes away from hers.

“Chance, I did hurt you. I’m so sorry.” Josie kneeled up in the tub and tentatively touched the bite mark.

“Jesus, Josie, you’re going to actually fall for that, when he exploded all over you like a volcano when you bit him?” Sam asked. “You’re going to have to learn not to fall for his bullshit, Honey, or he’ll be yanking your chain every minute of the day.”

Chance worked to contain his laughter. Josie splashed him hard, hoping bath salts got into his eyes.

“You–you–jerk. I was really worried about you.”

“I know, that’s what made it so awesome!” He climbed out between laughs.

Sam came up behind her and glided his fingers through the mass of curls he and Chance had clipped to the top of her head. Then he knelt beside the tub and rubbed his cheek against hers. “You sore, Baby?”

Josie wiggled down into the jetted bubbles and snuggled back against Sam. “A little, but this should take care of things,” she rushed to assure him. He softly bit the shell of her ear.

“I think the tub and a couple of days’ rest from that kind of play should take care of things,” Sam replied as Josie yawned.

“Let’s negotiate tomorrow,” she said. “I vote for one day of rest, but if we negotiate tonight, I’ll lose.”

“Good thinking.” Sam rubbed the end of her nose with his, scooped her dripping body up out of the tub, and they got ready for bed. The last thing Josie remembered, as she cuddled between her men, was that she’d never felt so safe in her entire life.

* * *

This was the first morning that Josie successfully sneaked out to work without waking them, happy that they were going to get a bit more sleep. They weren’t used to being up at two in the morning to bake confections for a bakery, but she’d been doing it for years. Plus—she snickered—it was kind of cute to see the two of them in the bed together. She wondered if they would cuddle. It would serve Chance right if they did.

By the time she arrived at Sweet Dreams Desserts, her coffee had kicked in, and she was enjoying her time alone with the scent of the dough. There was something so comforting about making tangible offerings for people. She put a large part of the dough into the automatic kneader, but still took a portion to knead by hand, enjoying the ritual. Three hours later, Elise arrived to find that Josie had everything ready to go into the ovens. Josie left her to it and went to her apartment to change into her yoga clothes and drive to the lake.

She was halfway through her workout when she saw Sam making his way toward her. He looked good in just running shorts. She flushed, vividly remembering last night and the way he had filled her. He stopped in front of her, bent over, and gave her a sweaty kiss. She reveled in the musky flavor, her own responsiveness serving to amp it up.

“Missed waking up with you this morning,” he mumbled in his hushed tone, in keeping with the burgeoning dawn. He knelt in position with her, and they flowed through the last moves together, until the dawn bathed the skies in hazy pinks and lilacs. “By the way, if you ever leave me in bed with Chance alone again, I think I might understand why Leif sometimes enjoys spanking women.”

Josie’s laughter rang out across the lake. “You two looked exhausted.”

“Serious, Josie. I at least want a kiss good-bye.”