Love Under Two Jessops (9 page)

Besides, Chloe really liked Grandma Kate. In the short time she’d known her, the nonagenarian had become the grandmother she’d never had.

Chloe just
couldn’t
let her down.

The men exchanged a look, but stayed silent. Grant used the wand on his side of the shower to rinse the rest of the soap from her while Andrew stepped out of the enclosure.

“We’ll do the spa tub next time.”

“Okay.” Chloe figured that might be a wise decision, since she might fall asleep in the spa. Not that she worried about drowning, or anything. She knew without question that these two men would never let anything bad happen to her.

But she really did intend to move the three of them into act two just as soon as they got comfy under the blankets.

Andrew was waiting for her when Grant turned her toward the open door of the shower. He handed a towel to Grant and then wrapped another around her. Then he carried her over to the bench beside the spa tub and set her on his lap.

“Oh my God. Heated towels.” This was a level of pampering she’d never experienced, and it made her melt. While Andrew blotted the wet from her body, Grant used the towel his brother had handed him to take care of her hair.

The next thing she knew she was being carried, naked—
what the heck happened to that nice warm towel?
—toward the bed.

“What?”

“You dozed off, Chloe-doe.” Andrew laid her in the center of the bed then crawled in beside her. The blankets floated down as if from heaven above, and then Grant was there, too, on her right. He eased her closer, into his arms, arranging her until she was on her right side with her head on his chest and her left leg draped his.

Andrew spooned her, and their heat and their scent enveloped her.

“Just one thing, baby girl, before you go to sleep.”

She wasn’t going to sleep, she was just going to give them a couple of moments, and then she was going to set her hands on them. They could discuss the first couple of things that popped up. She didn’t want to give her plan away, so she said, “And what would that be?”

It was Andrew who answered. “You would never be able to let Kate down. In case you didn’t realize it, you’re hers—just like you’re ours.”

That was so nice. She blinked back tears and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I am? That’s—I never had me a granny before.”

“You do now. Hell, baby girl, you’re up to your ass in family, in case you didn’t know it.”

Chloe liked the sound of that. She liked it a lot. And in just a moment she was going to show these two hunky firemen just how much.

She was pretty sure she would have, too, if the bed hadn’t chosen just that moment to open up and envelop her completely.

“What do you think that thing is, exactly?”

Grant shrugged in response to his brother’s question. Andrew shoved his hands in his pockets. There they stood side by side, right inside the double glass doors of the firehouse, again. Grant kept his gaze focused on the
Lusty Glow Day Spa
. Whatever was in the back of that shiny new Dodge Ram pickup truck that had just pulled to the curb looked like it belonged in a spa. He guessed.

The truck door opened and a man he didn’t know climbed out. Even from where Grant stood it was clear the truck’s driver was looking at the sign that hung over the as yet unopened shop.

It was Monday morning, and they were
supposed
to be working on the training schedule for the town’s volunteer firefighters. They were also supposed to be working on a five-year plan for the fire department, updating it with regard to the addition of another roughly one-half square mile of land to the town of Lusty, proper. Instead, they’d left where they’d been working—the kitchen table instead of the more usual conference room—and wandered the few feet over to see if they could catch a glimpse of their woman.

Grant mentally shook his head. They’d spent most of Sunday with Chloe, loving her and cuddling her, and then going for a drive into Waco because she’d wanted to check out the flea markets there. Hell, they’d only been separated from her for—he cast a glance at the clock on the wall—about forty-five minutes, all told.

He couldn’t hold back his smile thinking about the afternoon they’d spent with her yesterday, following behind that tiny little bundle of energy. Their woman didn’t like to shop, so much as she liked to browse and
loved
to barter.

Movement down the street brought his attention back to the moment. Jordan stepped out of the nearly finished spa, a smile on his face and hand extended. He obviously knew the man with the truck and its mysterious contents in the bed.
What the hell is that, anyway
? Rising a good five feet in the air, the color of copper, it appeared to be a sculpture of some sort.

“Looks like a tower of bowls,” Andrew said.

Even though they could only see two bowls, that was exactly what it looked like. Female ritual was a gaping black hole of mystery, and Grant didn’t even want to
guess
as to what those bowls could possibly be used for.

The driver of the Ram stood as tall as Jordan, with long black hair and a goatee-type beard. Instead of denim jeans, T-shirt, and jacket, or a business suit, the man wore what appeared to be a long flowing tunic over very snug black pants. When he turned slightly toward them as he was gesturing to the back of the truck, the sun glinted off a gold necklace that hung around his neck.

“The guy looks like a hippy.” Grant didn’t know if he liked having strange men in shiny trucks pull up to where his woman was working. Especially when the woman in question all but burst out of the spa and onto the sidewalk and seemed pleased as hell to see the guy.

The
only
thing at that moment that kept Grant in place, rather than marching over and planting himself between that overgrown hippy and his Chloe was the sure and certain knowledge that doing so would only bring him seven kinds of trouble from his woman.

She might be small, but man, was she mighty.

“I think he might be one of those artsy-fartsy friends of Jordan’s,” Andrew said.

That was the conclusion that Grant had come to as well. He was also coming to the conclusion that he
really
didn’t like the way the man kept looking at his woman.

“Golly, brother, that whatever-the-fuck-it-is in the back of that truck, there, looks awfully heavy.” Andrew had donned his choirboy face, which of course didn’t fool Grant for one minute.

Andrew had
never
been a choirboy.

“And you know,” he continued, “our Chloe is just the sort of woman who would step right in and try to lend a hand in moving it into her shop. Why, she’s such a little bitty thing. She could
hurt
herself.”

Grant grinned, and slapped Andrew on the back. “We can’t have that. We need to go and help her, since it’s our duty and our privilege to look out for her, and keep her safe.”

“Why, that’s a fine idea, brother,” Andrew said. His smile disappeared, and Grant beheld a snarl that looked like the one he felt like displaying. “Let’s just go do that little thing.”

Grant had never been one to dawdle going from point A to point B, and right now sure didn’t seem like the time to start. It didn’t take him and his brother very long to cover the distance from the fire hall to the
Lusty Glow Day Spa
.

Chloe’s face lit up when she saw them approach, and she immediately headed toward them, obviously as eager to be with them as they were to be with her.

Grant picked her up and kissed her, a long, lusty, very claiming kind of kiss. When he set her back down on her feet, it was to see an extremely satisfying dazed look in her eyes and a not unexpected smirk on the face of his cousin.

Chloe shook her head as if coming out of a swoon. She reached up and stroked his cheek, both her touch and the expression in her eyes soft and gentle.

Then she grinned, and in an almost one-eighty mood swing, took his hand, and Andrew’s and led them toward the Ram. “Look! Look what I’ve got for my spa! Isn’t it
wonderful
? Elias Carmody made it for me
himself
!”

Grant turned his attention to the hippie—and realized the man was a fair bit older than he’d appeared upon first sight from across the street.

Jordan seemed to be having trouble controlling his urge to laugh—damn cousins
never
changed—but finally he coughed and introduced them to his friend, the hippy—though of course he didn’t call him that.

“Elias Carmody, these are two of my cousins, Grant and Andrew Jessop. Guys, Elias was a friend of Uncle Gray’s—and he’s a friend of mine.”

That put Grant in his place. Grant extended the hand Chloe wasn’t holding and nodded to the man.

“Mr. Carmody. Good to meet you, sir.”

“Just Eli. I’m pleased to meet you both. Miss Chloe just finished telling me that she knew of two big strappin’ men who’d be happy to move this waterfall into the spa for her.”

Chloe looked up at him. “Sorry that I volunteered you like that without even asking…”

“Hush.” Grant placed a kiss on her cheek, and then smiled at her. “We actually came over to lend a hand if we could. That waterfall looked heavy even from across the street.”

Chloe beamed as if he’d handed her a marvelous treasure. “Mr. Carmody is a metal artist. He’s really famous, and has had shows in major galleries all over the country. I even read about him once in
Texas Monthly
. And just look what he made for
me
! It’s a one-of-a-kind working sculpture and he made it for me because Jordan asked him to.”

Jordan
would
ask his friend to create something unique for the woman the entire Kendall family had adopted as their own baby sister.

“Well now, that’s very special.” He nodded his thanks to the older man. “But then so are you, baby girl.”

Chloe had one of the most becoming blushes he’d ever seen. “That’s so sweet, Grant. Thank you.”

Grant gave Chloe another kiss, and angled her toward Andrew so he could do the same—and then really looked at the sculpture for the first time.

Big and heavy it definitely was. But it was also beautiful.

Between the three of them—Grant, Andrew, and Jordan—and under the direction of Eli—they were able to carry the sculpture inside the spa.

Grant realized neither he nor Andrew had set foot inside the place before that moment. He let his gaze wander the interior, taking in the deep burgundy-colored walls, the exquisite parquet flooring, and what looked like very comfortable divans, still covered in plastic. Chloe’s spa looked not only professional, but plush.

He knew it was her goal to make her clients feel completely pampered. He wouldn’t doubt that in here, they would.

They’d set the “waterfall” down on a pedestal that had clearly been designed to hold the sculpture. He and Andrew stood back and watched as Jordan worked to connect the thing. Eli helped him out and the two men chatted, clearly comfortable with each other.

“You’ve never been in here before.” Chloe came and stood between them. He picked up her hand and kissed it while Andrew ran his hand down her back.

“I was just thinking that. I could tell you that we just wanted to stay out of your way, but that would only be partly right.”

“We’re still a little leery of the female stuff.” Andrew’s grin looked like one of his better ones—the kind that used to make their mother soften toward them.

Chloe laughed. “That’s okay. You don’t have to worry that I’m going to expect you to come in here for manis or pedis or anything.”

“For what?” Grant thought he knew what she was talking about, but he wasn’t one hundred percent certain.

Chloe chuckled. “Never mind, my brave first responder. You’re safe from all the evil female rituals. I promise.”

“Ready,” Jordan said. He looked at Chloe. “Do you want to flip the switch?”

“Oh, yes!” She zipped right over to the man. Jordan showed her where all the controls were, and then grinned and stood back. “Okay, here goes.” Chloe made turning on the waterfall seem like a ceremony.

He heard the sound of water as it began to trickle. It filled the first bowl, spilled into the second, and then down into the third.

If Grant didn’t know better he’d have thought he was out in the woods near a stream. Hell, if she played music like nature sounds—birds and breeze through the trees—he could totally put himself out at the family campsite.

He stood in silence next to his brother and gave due attention, with everyone else, to the waterfall, and its constant, running-water sound.

After about two minutes, Andrew asked, “That’s going to run all the time?”

Chloe’s hands were together in front of her as if she wanted to clap. She looked so damn pleased it made him smile. Grant decided that he very much wanted Chloe to look that happy all the time.

“Yes, it’ll run while the shop is open. Isn’t it wonderful? My clients will find this
so
soothing.” She turned to Eli. “Mr. Carmody, I can’t thank you enough. It’s exquisite!” She went over to the older man and gave him a hug. Eli patted her back awkwardly while shooting him and Andrew a look that clearly stated he didn’t want to offend anyone.