Beautifully Undone (The Beaumont Brothers #3) (11 page)

Brodie and Gabrielle left shortly after they clued us in on everything we needed to know about the small cottage—if you could call it a cottage. I closed the door to our new temporary living quarters. A one-room studio apartment with just one queen bed, in the wall. This was going to be interesting.

I hadn’t been able to get Mel out of my head ever since we had sex three weeks ago. She grew more beautiful every day. Even when she’d been crying and moping around like it was the end of the world. Losing a brother was hard. Now I had two, right here in the same town, and I didn’t even know how to tell them we were related. That was all just too much for one person’s mind to handle. I plopped down on the bed that Brodie had left open then stretched out and closed my eyes.

I opened them when I heard some noise coming from the bathroom. The sound of drawers opening and closing, then water running. I got up and cracked open the door. “Mel?”

She turned around to look at me, toothbrush in her mouth and her shirt partially unbuttoned. She pulled the brush out from between her lips and gave me a foamy white smile. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping. Just relaxing. You okay?”

She spit out the toothpaste in the sink. “Yeah. I wanted to clean up a little after being sick earlier, brush my teeth and wash my face. That’s all. I felt like yuck, you know?”

I nodded. “Is your stomach better?”

“Yeah, actually. I feel great. The carsickness, or whatever it was, must have gone away. After I clean up, maybe we could grab something to eat somewhere.”

“Sounds good.”

I started to close the door. “Asher?” My name was barely a whisper on her lips. It was soft and sounded like she’d said it because she wanted me. I mean
really
wanted me, like in the shower with her a few weeks ago.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you decided to come here. I think your brothers are nice guys.”

“Yeah, I know. Me, too.”

She sucked in her lips and toyed with the last button on her shirt. My cock hardened inside my pants. There was no way I could continue this way.

Melody

Here we were, alone in this small room with only one bed. This had to be a test. If this were a test, I had a feeling we were going to fail. Or succeed, whichever way you looked at things. Asher’s eyes followed my finger as I circled it around the last button on my blouse. As they traveled back up to my face, he stepped closer, just one step inside the door. The way he stared at me made my stomach flip a little. Not like before when I’d been sick, this was a good feeling. The tender area between my thighs throbbed and became damp as I remembered how his lips had felt on mine. How his fingers had played between my thighs when I had showered with him.

Seeing him look at me the way he was had me wanting to be in his arms. So badly. I wanted to ask him to hold me. Just as I had that thought, he closed the distance between us and palmed my cheeks with his hands as his lips found mine. My arms went around his waist and my hands slid up his back. He kissed me slowly, and his fingers tangled in my hair. I moaned into his mouth, and he moaned with me. His lips brushed down my neck and my legs became weak, but his strong arms held me up.  

“What are you doing?” I breathed against his chin.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“I thought…”

“Shhhh. You think too much sometimes, Mel.”

I rested my head against his chest as he kissed the nape of my neck. I didn’t want him to stop.

“I can hear your heart beating.”

“That’s a good thing. Always a plus.”

“I agree.”

“Do you know why I wanted you to come with me?”

“Because I’m your best friend and you needed me.”

“Yeah. That’s true. I do need you. But the reason I wanted you to come with me is because I can’t stop thinking about you and I don’t want you to be with anyone else while I’m gone. Not anyone, especially not Alex.”

“Asher, when I went out with Alex, I…we…”

“Don’t,” he said and kissed me again. Softly, gently. I wanted to tell him that Alex and I never had sex. That he’d been right about him all along, but his kisses kept my tongue too busy and I soon forgot all about Alex. All I could think about now was Asher and his hands as they roamed down my thighs, finding their way between them and fingering me outside of my jeans. My panties were going to be soaked.

As our lips pressed together and our tongues mingled—sweet Jesus!—his hand was on my butt and he pulled me tight against him. His hard erection pressed into my thigh and his hand slipped just inside the waistband of my jeans.

“Asher, we shouldn’t.” I had no idea why I’d said that because, at that moment, I knew I wanted him more than I wanted to breathe.

“Why not?”

“Because…I…we—” The words lodged in my throat as he licked and kissed a sensitive spot on my neck right below my ear. My toes tingled. “I don’t want to ruin us.”

“Are we ruined?”

“No, but…”

“Then we won’t be.”

“But what happens when we get home?”

“I don’t know. If you don’t want me to go any further, tell me no, Melody. Otherwise, shut up and kiss me.”

I kissed him.

As we kissed, our tongues did a frantic and desperate tangling as he unbuttoned my jeans and slipped the zipper down, then reached his hand down my pants and moaned. “Oh, baby, you are so wet for me.”

We stopped kissing and I inhaled deeply as though I hadn’t been able to breathe. He pulled his hand out of my pants as his fingers dipped under my shirt then pulled it up over my head, not even trying to deal with the rest of the buttons.

He took a step back, and I watched his eyes roam from my face to my breasts as he slowly ran his tongue over his lips. Oh so sexy.

“I need you, Mel. There hasn’t been anyone else since you. I can’t even look at another woman without thinking about you.”

I opened my mouth, again, to tell him about Alex, but he smothered my lips with his while he shoved my pants to the floor. I stepped out of them. I was super glad to know he hadn’t been with Lisa, but I decided to put off telling him about Alex. I had a feeling that just the mention of Alex’s name would ruin this moment.

He stepped back again, and once again his eyes roamed down my body. He smiled and pulled his t-shirt over his head. I loved looking at his chest. Just the sight of him had me hot and wanting. He unbuttoned his jeans and I watched with a great amount of anticipation as the zipper went down. His pants and boxers hit the floor, and he kicked them away. His thick cock jutted forward, long and hard. He stepped to me again and kissed me before he tugged me over to the bed and sank back, pulling me on top of him, our lips never parting. My legs were spread over his hips, and he gyrated under me, pressing his cock against my clit as he sucked my nipples, teasing with his fingers and massaging his palms over them, sending strong thumping pulses into my lady parts.

When he dipped two of his fingers inside me and circled his thumb around my nub, I moaned and bucked my hips forward, feeling a surge of the slick wetness he was creating.

“You like that, don’t you, Mel?” His words were heated and heavy with lust. So sexy.

He placed his hands on my hips and gently urged me up onto my knees as he rubbed his cock over my entrance. When he tugged me back down, I felt the stretch of my walls as he entered, and Asher groaned something like, “Fuck, you feel so good,” as I slid down. His balls tickled my backside as he moved my hips. Even though we’d done it a few times that night weeks ago, I was still expecting the initial shock and pinch that I’d had the first time, but it never happened. His hands were strong, and he used his strength to thrust me up and then back down again, keeping rhythm with his own thrusts. When I lifted up, I looked at Ash and he was watching me, his eyes heavy-lidded and barely open. When I slipped back down on him, he grabbed my waist with both of his hands and with one swift motion, he pivoted my body onto my back and then positioned himself on top of me without losing connection. When his thrusts became stronger and harder, it was as if heaven opened up with roars of thunder in my head. I was floating on clouds as the intensity of the pressure built up inside of me. 

This time was so much different than the last time. It wasn’t as calculated and smooth as before. This time, it was heated and full of passion. As though Asher really wanted me and wasn’t just doing everything so that I had a great experience. This time, we weren’t just fucking—as Asher had put it—this time, we were making love, and the look in his eyes told me that he wanted me. I screamed as Asher shoved into me and we climaxed together. As his mouth took mine, our tongues collided, still urgent for one another and full of passion.

He sank down beside me and tugged me in close. Our breaths still panting. I closed my eyes. I didn’t think I could be any happier than I was right at that moment.

When our breathing returned to normal, Asher whispered into my ear. “That, Melody, was not fucking.”

“What was it?” I asked.

“It was making love.”

I smiled. Was every dream I’d ever had, every fantasy I’d ever had about Asher Beaumont actually beginning to come true?

“Mel, I don’t know what’s going to happen when we go home, or what the future holds for us. But right now, I want you to know that I want you in my life. Not only as my best friend, but also as my lover.”

I wasn’t sure exactly how to interpret that, but I didn’t want to screw this up by asking for more than he was willing to give me, so I stayed silent and let him kiss me with a tenderness that I hadn’t felt from him before.

Asher turned on to his side and tucked me in close so my rear pressed against his groin. His arm draped over my shoulders and his fingers tangled with mine.

“So, how do you think I should break the news to Jackson and Brodie?” Asher asked in a low, soft voice.

“I think the best way is to just say it.”

“Yeah, that’s the hard part.”

“But you need to have both of them present when you do.”

“Maybe tonight. They invited us to jam with them at the bar.”

“Do you think a public place like that is best? I mean, in a room full of people it might be hard to have a conversation about it. And I’m sure they are going to have a ton of questions.”

“You might be right. Let’s get dressed. I’m starving. You?”

I was hungry. I’d lost everything I’d eaten earlier after the long car ride through some winding roads. “Yeah. A cheeseburger sounds great.”

“My thoughts exactly.”    

Asher

We found a small café in town. Small was an understatement. It only had four, square, wooden tables inside. I went to the counter to buy the food while Mel sat at the only available table.  I ordered a cheeseburger smothered with grilled onions, mushrooms, and a side mountain of French fries at her request, and a turkey club and a Caesar salad for me. She only ate half of her burger and a just few of the fries. I ended up eating the other half as well as the rest of her fries. I sort of knew that would happen.

I was feeling anxious about talking to Brodie and Jackson and wanted to get it over with. I should have just told them who I was when we’d first met, but it hadn’t seemed like the best time.

By the time we finished eating, it was dark. We drove back to the bar to see if Brodie and Jackson were there. Playing some tunes might be a great way to break the ice.

We could hear music as we opened the truck doors. Mel and I grabbed our guitars from the back seat and went inside. Jackson waved us over the minute he saw us. He seemed excited about playing with us. It was a good feeling.

“What kind of guitar do you have?” Brodie asked as I pulled it out of the case

“D-28 Dreadnought.”

“Jack’s got a Dreadnought. Are you as picky about who touches yours as he is?”

“Probably.” I chuckled. “What do you have?”

“I own a Fender Squier P Bass.”

“That’s right. You’re the bass.”

“Somebody’s gotta do it.”

I was nervous at first and missed a few beats, which pissed me off. I never screwed up like that. Even Mel gasped and commented on it.

“Asher! What the hell?”

I shrugged. Then Jackson skipped a few noticeable chords, but he only looked up and smiled. I suddenly didn’t feel so awkward. We played several tunes together. Everyone falling right into the groove without another missed beat, none that I noticed anyway.

“You two been playing together long?” Brodie asked me.

“No, well, we’ve messed around some, but just really started playing together this past week.” I had to grin as I glanced up to see Mel’s smile. I knew she’d caught on to the “messed around” innuendo.

“Well, it sounds like music is in your blood.”

“No doubt,” I said.

It had been an awesome experience playing songs with my brothers. But the secret looming over our visit needled my brain constantly. I had to figure out a way to tell them who I was. Once again, I thought that I should have told them when I’d first met them. Now it might be too late, and they might get pissed that I’d waited.

The next couple of days flew by. Every minute had been packed full and there was never a dull moment. We jammed with Jackson and Brodie each night, and Mel and I made love every time we were alone. But I still hadn’t gotten the nerve to confess the real reason why Mel and I were there to the guys. I was enjoying the time with her, and though I knew I had to tell them, I didn’t want to spoil the special and new time Mel and I were spending together, getting to know each other more as lovers rather than just friends.

By the third day, Mel and I had just had our tenth orgasm together—by Mel’s count. She was the one keeping score and it made me laugh. She stood in the shower. I stepped in and began sudsing down her front.

“Let’s just knock on the door and see what happens,” Mel suggested. “The sooner you tell them, the sooner you’ll be able to relax and stop worrying about it.”

“I know, you’re right. It’s just difficult.”

“What’s so hard? ‘Hey, Jackson and Brodie, guess what? I’m your brother?’”

I laughed. “Yeah. That should work.”

“In my experience with difficult situations, it’s best to be as direct as possible.”

“In
your
experience? What experience have you ever had with telling two people that you were related?”

“Well, none, but if I had two
more
brothers…” She lowered her eyes and I felt horrible for what she must be feeling. Here we were, talking about the fact that I had two brothers and couldn’t find the courage to tell them who I was, when her own brother, whom she’d probably give anything to talk to one more time, had just died. But then she surprised me when she finished with, “…you can bet your pretty, twenty-inch cock that I wouldn’t be hemming and hawing about letting them know about me.”

I cracked up. “Twenty-inches? You always were horrible at math.”

She giggled.

We finished our shower and dressed then headed down the stairs of the cottage. I took her hand as we walked up the four short steps to the front door of the main house. I pulled up the large brass knocker and let it bang down against the door three times, not too hard, but not too soft. Three times seemed like the norm. Wasn’t that how many times people usually knocked on a door? My mind was rambling out of control with unnecessary trivial crap. When the door opened, I took a step back.

“Hey, Ash.” Brodie looked at Mel and smiled. “Is everything all right upstairs?”

“Yeah. Fine. Listen.” I paused and looked down at my grey Chuck Taylors as if they had the words I wanted to say etched into them. Mel nudged me in the side with her elbow when I didn’t speak. “Can we talk?”

“Sure, come on in. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is great. Do you think you could call your brother and ask him to come over?”

He gave me a puzzled look. “Now you’re starting to worry me.”

“I swear nothing is wrong. I just wanted to talk to you both about something and it would be best if he was here, too.” Mel squeezed my hand as if she tried to transfer all her positive energy to me. It made me feel good.

“Have a seat,” he said, pointing to the sofa. Mel and I sat side by side on it, and Brodie sat on the piano stool staring at us as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pushed a couple of buttons then held the phone to his ear and waited a couple of seconds before speaking into it. “What are you doing…? Good…come on over…yeah…yeah…I don’t know…Ash and Mel are here and want to talk…I don’t know…yeah…okay.” He pushed a button on his phone and looked at us. “He’ll be here in a couple of minutes.”

Gabrielle walked into the room. “Oh, hey.” Her smile was large and welcoming.

“Beer?” Brodie asked.

“Sure, thanks.” A beer was probably a great idea. Something to knock the nerves down a notch.

“How about you, Melody?” Gabrielle asked.

“Okay. That would be nice, thank you.”

“Sierra Nevada or Corona light?”

“Corona is fine,” I said, knowing Mel didn’t like many beers, but I knew she liked Corona and I didn’t want to complicate things.

A minute later, Gabrielle came out with four bottles of Corona, a wedge of lime sticking out of the top of each one.

The front door opened, and Jackson and Lena walked in with Rufus at their heels. The dog immediately came over to Mel and me and we patted him on the head before he took off and made himself comfortable over by Jackson. “Hey, so, what’s going on?” he asked then sat in a chair to the side of the sofa as Lena sat on the arm of it next to him. Gabrielle planted herself on the other side of Mel toward the end of the couch.

“Is something wrong?” Jackson asked Brodie.

“Don’t know. Ash said he wanted to talk to us, together. That’s all I know,” Brodie said.

I took a sip of the beer and looked up at Brodie then at Jackson. I’m sure my face was pale from fear, nervousness, anxiety. I had no idea how they were going to receive this news I was about to lay on them, but we shared a father, and they had a right to know. I decided to just say it. “I…uh…my father’s name was Charles Rutherford Beaumont,” I said then took another sip of my beer.

“What?” Brodie said.

“Wait, what did you just say?” Jackson asked.

“My father’s name was Charles Rutherford Beaumont. My last name is Beaumont. My mother gave me my father’s last name even though they were never married.”

“You’re shittin’ me,” Brodie said. “How…I mean, you just walk in here out of the blue and tell us this and expect us to believe you?” Brodie stood up, and I edged back, unsure of what he was going to do. I thought maybe punch me or something.

“Wait,” Jackson said.

“What, you believe him?” Brodie glared at Jackson and then back at me. Mel wrapped her fingers around mine.

“There’s no reason for him to make something like this up, Brodie. What would be the point? It’s not as if there’s any money, some big family fortune to inherit. Dad died years ago, and he’d left us long before that, we knew he was seeing someone. Mom knew.”

“Which brings me to the question, why now? Why did you wait until just now to come here?” Brodie asked. “And how old are you?”

“Brodie,” Gabrielle placed her hand on Brodie’s arm. “Sit down. Give him a chance to explain.”

Brodie glanced at her, and I was thankful that he listened to her and sat down. This was hard enough without worrying about whether or not he was going to get violent.

“I’m twenty-one.”

“Now, see? That…that’s just proof that this is crazy. You’re twenty-one and I’m twenty-three, and you expect us to believe that our father got your mother pregnant while he was still living with our mother. When I was just one and a half years old? That he cheated on our mother all those years?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, but I wasn’t really and decided to show my true colors. I wasn’t a wimpy, snot-nosed little brother. I was a grown man and I had balls. I needed to stick up for myself, my mom. I wasn’t afraid of these two guys. “No, actually, I take that back. I’m not sorry. I’m here. I was born. I’ll admit not into the most perfect world and situation, but my mother…” I swallowed at the mention of my mom. “…she loved him. Yeah, he was an asshole and got her pregnant while he was still married to your mother. And he only came around to act like a father to me a couple of times in my life, so, yeah, big asshole. I never wanted to meet you. In fact, I spent my entire life hating you. Hating the life, the family that you had and I didn’t. Hate is actually too nice of a word. I despised you. And him.” I pointed to Jackson. “Look, this is stupid.” I stood up, grabbed Mel’s hand and pulled her up with me. “I can tell this was a mistake. We’ll go upstairs and collect our stuff and leave. Thanks for the beers and the room.” I was glad Mel hadn’t tried to resist my attempt to leave and insist we stick it out. It was clear to me that these guys weren’t open to anything I had to say.

“Wait,” Jackson said. “Don’t go yet. I apologize for my brother.”

“Don’t apologize for me, Jack, this guy’s nuts.”

“You don’t know that,” Jackson defended me. “Brodie, you’re being an ass. Before you start throwing out insults, let’s hear him out.”

“No. He’s nothing but a lying sack of shit.”

“Sit the fuck down, Brodie, and let’s listen to what he has to say,” Jackson yelled, and to my surprise, Brodie sank back down onto the stool next to Gabrielle. She placed her hand on top of his and that seemed to calm him, but not by much. He was a stick of dynamite ready to explode.

“Please, sit down, Ash. Is Ash short for something?” Jackson asked.

“Asher,” I said and sat.

“Okay, Asher, we’re listening. Please continue.”

I cleared my throat and ran my hand through my hair, carefully choosing my next words. “As I said, I never wanted to come here. The only reason I’m here is because my mom asked me to come. She left me a letter that I didn’t find until after she died. She convinced me that the two of you are as innocent in this as I am and that I shouldn’t punish you or myself for what our father did. She told me that you, most likely, didn’t even know that I existed, and I guess she was right about that. Anyway, I just thought you had a right to know.”

“And you said your mother just recently died?” Jackson asked, remembering our first conversation.

“Yeah, three weeks ago. I found the letter among some important papers she left for me.”

“I’m sorry. How did she die?” Brodie asked, surprising the hell out of me that he even spoke, let alone asked in such a calm and caring way. I gave him a quick glance, wanting to see his facial expression. It was somber.

“Cancer. She had a brain tumor. It took her within three months from the time the doctors found it.”

“Sorry, that must have been hard,” Jackson said.

I nodded. “I’ve known about you my entire life. My dad, our dad, used to brag about you.” I cleared my throat and continued. “When I was four, he told me I had two big brothers and said how much they’d love to meet me. At the time, I begged to go with him when he left that day so I could meet you. He promised that someday I would, but we all know that never happened. The man was full of empty promises. That was the last time I ever saw him actually. He sent monthly checks, a little to help out, but they stopped when I was seven. Later, we found out through sources that he’d been killed in a car accident.”

Brodie sighed and shook his head. Gabrielle wrapped her arm around him and tugged him a little. Jackson had his hand on Lena’s thigh and they looked at each other with sorrow on their faces.

“I didn’t come here for a pity party or to bring up bad shit,” I said. “I don’t want anything from you. I just wanted to meet you. Now that I have, we’ll go.” As I stood, I grabbed Mel’s hand and motioned for her to stand.