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“First, because I’ve never felt a kiss down to my soul the way I just felt yours,” Parker said.
“Totally awesome,” Dale agreed. “And second, because we’ve never in our entire lives done what we just did—kiss the same woman. I didn’t know what I’d feel. And now I know it’s going to be good. If we do more than kiss, it’s going to be damn good.”
“I’ve never kissed two men in succession before, either,” Jenny said. “I didn’t think there could be such a difference, but now I see that there is.”
Parker grinned. “Let’s go get some supper. Then we can sit in the living room and talk for a while.”
“And maybe fool around a little?” Jenny wanted them to know she was open to that, to exploring these emotions, these sensations.
Parker nodded. “A little. We’re not going to make love with you tonight, sweet Jenny.”
“No,” she agreed. “Not tonight.”
Jenny thought it a good thing she felt eminently comfortable in her best friend’s house. There were nerves because what she’d experienced out in the driveway had, as Dale said, been totally awesome. She definitely wanted more of that.
The jury was still out on whether or not these two Benedicts would turn out to be here on an extended vacation, or if they were going to set down roots. Time would tell, and so, as she sat in Ari’s kitchen perched on one of her center block stools, sipping a glass of wine and watching the men prepare a meal, she tried to fortify her emotional ramparts.
Parker and Dale had only promised their cousins three months. It would be crazy, crazy to let herself fall for these two, all things considered. And one thing anyone who knew Jenny could assert was that if there was one thing she was not, it was crazy.
Maybe it will turn out they’d say I wasn’t crazy until a couple of smooth-talking Montanans entered my personal picture.
She tilted her head and watched as Parker went about chopping veggies while Dale sliced steak. Jenny had heard that most men could grill a mean steak and generally had some chicken dish they could also prepare.
One hopeful man who’d attempted to hook up with her about a year ago claimed, in an appropriately smoky voice, that his best meal was breakfast.
She hadn’t been tempted by either the voice or the menu.
“What’s for supper?”
“My specialty.” Dale met her gaze. His smile reached his eyes, and she could see that cooking relaxed him. “A stir-fry with steak and mild peppers.” He frowned. “If you like your food exceptionally hot, we’ll put the hot sauce on the table. I saw some in the fridge.”
Jenny shook her head. “I’m one of those rare Texans who doesn’t appreciate hot and spicy food.”
“Good to know,” Parker said. He followed that with a wink and set the bowl of veggies close to the stove. Then he started the rice.
The men worked well together making the meal. Clearly this was something they’d done numerous times.
“Our first year of college, we left the ranch and rented an apartment close to MSU—Montana State University.” Dale looked over at her but kept an eye on the meat. “There were restaurants all over, but the two of us preferred to eat in most nights.”
“Despite our new-found freedom, we were quite serious about our studies. What we were learning was going to help us in our careers as ranchers. Anyway, we’d already learned how to cook—that was one thing Mom insisted on. It was easier, and cheaper, to just shop and cook.”
“We took turns.”
There was something about the way the guys explained themselves that piqued her curiosity.
“What happened after the first year of college?”
Dale snorted. “We were called home. Dad and our older brothers decided that we could commute to college because it was only an hour each way. That way, we could do chores in the morning and pitch in again after the school day was done.”
“So for the last three years, you went to school full time and worked full time.”
“Pretty much, yes. That was just the beginning of the bullshit. That was the year that Dad made Marcus the ranch manager and let him more or less take over.”
