“I don’t want this to change who we are.”
“There’s something I’ve not told you, Cora. I want you to listen to me, so hear me out.”
She nodded, picking up her wine.
“I like you, too. I do love you. I don’t do marriage, but for you, I’d be willing to do it to have you as mine.” Her eyes grew wide at his confession. “I like to have sex in front of the club. I’ve told you that, but what you don’t know is the fact that I love to share my women.”
“Share?”
“I like to watch my woman come apart in the arms of another man. I’m not talking about being out of the room, and watching through the window. I like to be part of it as well.”
Cora bit her lip. Kitty and Teri had told her this. She’d been waiting for him to come out and say it.
Was she ready for this?
****
Two weeks later
James stood outside of the diner with the rest of his brothers watching the locals mingle together. The barbeque was being fired up, but he wasn’t watching anyone but Cora. She stood on the edge of the group chatting with Caleb and Kitty.
They’d not broached the subject he’d brought up to her a couple of weeks ago. She’d asked many questions on the night about his need to share, and he’d answered them truthfully.
“How are you?” Stacey asked, cutting through his eye line.
“I’m fine. Are you going to keep Leo and Paul on tenterhooks?” he asked.
“Aw, are you worried about them?” Stacey glanced over her shoulder toward Cora. “You know she loves you, right?”
He turned his gaze back to Stacey, frowning.
“Look, I know you and I don’t talk, and I don’t have a problem with that. You’re not really my cup of tea. Anyway, Cora, she’s been different with you in her life. She’s never really been the settling kind of girl. With you, she’s happy. I’ve never seen her this happy before in her life.”
“I don’t do marriage,” James said.
“Neither does she. Cora wouldn’t thank you for a wedding ring.”
“Why hasn’t it ever worked with anyone else?” he asked, and hating himself for doing it.
Stacey chuckled. “I see you’ve got it bad. Cora’s a wild woman. She doesn’t like to be told what to do, and how to do it. The men she dated took one look at the sweet ass dresses she wore, and her blonde hair, and believed she was the nice girl. Believe me, I had to sit and listen to them all talk about taking her home to Mom. Anyway, as you know, Cora isn’t the kind of woman you take home to Mom. She’s wild. She likes adventure. You’re giving her that. You don’t make her go around in boring ass suits, or wear tight leather skirts.”
He looked to where Cora was standing. She wore a white summer dress w
ith slender straps. Even this far away he saw she wasn’t wearing a bra. The dress was sheer in the sun, and it showed she was wearing a nice white thong.
They didn’t look like a couple, but he’d come to learn in the time that he’d known her that she loved the feel of the fabric of her clothes. She hated leather, even though she enjoyed wearing a leather jacket.
James had decided that he couldn’t give her a ring, but he could give her something else to make her his.
“This life isn’t for everyone,” James said.
“I don’t see Cora running away, nor is she trying to pull away from you.”
He watched as she gave Caleb a hug. Turning her smile to Kitty, she embraced the woman as well. When her gaze landed on him, everything else just stopped. The only person who mattered to him with her gaze on him was Cora. She made her way through the crowd, nodding and smiling at everyone as she passed.
Once she cleared the path, she jumped into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck. “Hello, lover boy,” she said, pressing a kiss to his lips.
“Hello, baby.” He gripped her ass, pulling her tight against him. This he could handle for the rest of his life. “How are you feeling?”