Pleasure Train (7 page)

It was two o’clock, and the lunch rush was finally over. Willow had picked up all the dishes from the tables and was busily wiping them down and replacing the wrapped silverware that she set the tables with.

“You sure have been a happy girl this week,” Sue said, coming up behind her.

Willow straightened, just finished wiping down table number six. She brushed back a strand of hair with the back of her hand and grinned. “I am happy. What clued you in?”

Sue crossed her arms beneath her breasts and rested her hip against the edge of the booth seat. “Well, let’s see…you’ve been humming and smiling all week. Moving faster than I’ve ever seen you move. You haven’t complained about one thing, including when that smart-mouthed kid on Wednesday blew soda through a straw and soaked your apron. What gives? Are you getting a little on the side?” Sue wiggled her eyebrows comically.

Willow laughed so hard she lost her breath. “You—you look so funny. Stop wiggling your eyebrows at me like that.”

Stu turned around on his barstool, eyeing them.

Willow waved him off. “Never mind, Stu. Just two silly women talking.”

He gave a “hmph” and turned back toward the counter, picking up his coffee cup.

“So what gives? Tell me,” Sue said, her voice a bit lower.

Willow looked around the café. There was no one there except Stu, and he was not wanting for anything at the moment. She nodded toward the booth. “Sit.”

Both of them slid into the booth. Sue clasped her hands on the tabletop. “Okay, I’m all ears. Who are you dating?”

“What makes you think I’m dating someone?” Willow pursed her lips, egging her on.

“You look too…too relaxed not to be getting a little. So, which one of those three morning guys are you romping with?” She leaned forward over her hands.

“Well, if you must know, I’m dating all three of them.” Willow held her breath, waiting for what she had just said to register with the other woman. She watched Sue’s face and knew exactly when it hit her. Sue’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened then quickly shut. She sat back in the booth, looking totally flustered. “Sue, you okay?”

“I, um,” she said, placing one hand on her cheek. “You say you’re dating all three of them? Do they know? I mean, does each one know you’re dating the other? Three of them?” With every question she asked, her voice became a little higher pitched.

Willow chuckled, placing her hands palm down on the tabletop. “Yes, I’m dating all three. And they all know it.”

“Well, I never thought when they told me—”

“Told you what?” Willow interrupted, frowning. “What did they tell you, Sue? Give it up.”

She let out a huge sigh. “Okay, I’ll fess up.” She picked up the napkin-wrapped silverware in her hands and turned it over and over as she spoke. “A couple of weeks ago, your three morning guys asked me about you. You were in the kitchen doing something at the time. Anyway, the one with the wild hair—”

“Mikey,” Willow said, nodding.

“—asked me if you were single and if you were seeing anyone. I told him no, you were pretty much available, and he should ask you out.” She scrunched up her nose. “I hope you don’t mind that I said that.”

Willow shook her head. “What else did you tell them?” She had no idea they had asked Sue about her. How long had they been interested?

“I told them you were thinking about leaving Forever and if he wanted to get to know you better, he should get on the ball and ask you to the movies or something.” She frowned. “Come to think of it, his two friends were awful interested in our conversation. Almost as if they were wanting to ask you out, too.” She raised her eyebrows. “And obviously, they did. Now, tell me, how in the world did you manage to start dating all of them at once?”

Willow twisted the cloth she had been using to wipe down tables in her hands. How much should she tell Sue? Should she tell her about the train? Or should she leave it as vanilla as she could and just admit to dating all three men? That was it. She’d tell her about dating all three and see how she took it before admitting to anything else. Sue was her best friend here in Forever, but in this little town, Willow wondered if they’d ever heard of the word “ménage” in the first place.

“Here’s the thing,” she began, shoving the cloth to the end of the table so she wouldn’t twist it while she was talking. “The three of them actually asked me out. At the same time. They like to take rides on the scenic train down in the historic district, and they invited me to go along with them.”

Sue nodded. “I’ve always liked taking a ride on that train. Haven’t been on it in a while though.”

“Well, I didn’t even know it existed, but that’s beside the point. During the train ride I…got to know them a bit. Each of them is different, each having his own take on things. Did you know the three of them have been friends for a long time and actually run a company together?”

Sue shook her head. “No. I just thought they worked together. So, they own the company they work for?”

Willow nodded. “And they live together. They’re very good friends, and they all get along great, so not being able to decide whom I liked better, I agreed to see them all. At the same time.”

“And no one is jealous?” Sue narrowed her eyes.

“Nope. They’ve asked me to commit to a relationship with all three of them.” Willow held her breath, waiting to see Sue’s reaction to what she had just said. Had she caught the fact that she’d said “all three of them?”

Sue sat back and gazed at Willow, her hands clasped demurely on the table in front of her. Then she tilted her head to the side. “Three.”

“Yes.”

Sue pursed her lips. “I can’t believe it.”

Uh-oh. Was Sue changing her opinion of her? Was she thinking she was a floozy for dating three men at once? “What about it can’t you believe?”

A smile slowly spread over Sue’s lips. “I can’t believe you could be so lucky.” She leaned forward again, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Details, woman. I want all the details. I know there’s more going on than just ‘dating,’ so give it up.”

Willow laughed. “Oh there’s much more going on.” She squinted at her. “Are you sure your heart can take it?”

“What I’m not sure of is if I’ll be able to go home to Stan and not think of how lucky you are. Now, start spilling it. I haven’t heard anything as juicy as this since Mary Margaret over at the church admitted to having an affair with the preacher.”

Willow slid out of the booth. “Let me freshen Stu’s coffee and get us a cup, too. It’s going to take a while.”

It was Saturday morning, and Willow walked briskly down the street, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, the other hand shoved in the pocket of her coat. The boys had booked the train again, and they had basically ordered her to come along with them. Her heart skipped a beat every time she thought about taking a ride on what she called the Pleasure Train. Would it be as pleasurable this time?

Willow had no doubt that it would be. All week long, she had spent most of her free time at the guys’ house, getting to know them and allowing them to get to know her.

They fixed dinner together, laughing and joking, learning each other’s likes and dislikes. Josh was a wonderful cook, she’d found out, making all sorts of delicious dishes. Mikey did okay as long as he had a box mix with directions printed on the back to go by. Jack, on the other hand, managed to burn anything he touched. By Thursday night, they had all come to the agreement that Jack was not allowed to prepare any food whatsoever but, instead, was to help with cleaning up afterward. It was three against one, so he didn’t have much choice except to smile and agree.

Willow had learned so much about them over the course of just a few days she felt she’d known them for years. The sex was amazing, too. All three of them were attentive to her every need. Sometimes she would have a tender one-on-one session with Jack, Josh, or Mikey. These times it truly felt like making love, and every time it happened, she grew closer to them. Her heart was opening up to the possibility of love again. Still, she shied away from actually committing to a solid relationship with the three of them. She just wasn’t ready. Not after what had happened with Kenny. She had been so deep into that relationship it had taken her a long time to realize she wasn’t happy and never would be. Even after that, it had taken even longer to finally decide to leave and try to find her own happiness.

And it was very possible she had just recently found it.

But the jury was still out. She didn’t want to rush into anything and waste more of her life trying to extricate herself from it. No matter how awesome the sex was.

Willow took a sip of her coffee, letting it sit on her tongue, enjoying the rich flavor as she entered the historic district of Forever. Swallowing, the warmth of the brew coated her tummy, but it was the heat she was beginning to feel in her pussy that kept her from shivering in the chilly air.

Though they’d had ménage sex during the week, it had not been all four of them together at the same time. Twice it had happened, and both times it had only been two of them pleasuring her at the same time. All three men had their differences during sex, and she had no particular favorite, enjoying each one of them equally. She wondered if the ride today would spur another bout of ménage sex with all of them participating. Just the thought of it made her smile widely.

Turning into the train-station lot, she mounted the steps to the little depot building and pushed through the screen door. “Hello?” She walked past the shelves with the collection of souvenirs, not even bothering to give them a look. “Grace? Are you here?” she called out, approaching the ticket window in the back of the shop.

“Hello, Miss Larkin!” Grace popped up from below the bottom of the window. “Nice to see you again. I’ve got your ticket ready, but you really don’t need it.” She handed the ticket through the window to Willow and giggled. “Those boys must really like you to invite you back.” She leaned forward and gave Willow a wink. “I’m glad to see it. They need a woman in their life. Hopefully you’ll snag one of them.”

Willow took the ticket from her and grinned. “I just may do that, Grace. Although which one, I don’t know. It’s so hard to choose.”

Grace laughed loudly. “Have fun choosing.”

“I will.” Willow gave her a wave and turned toward the door. With a lightness in her step, she exited the building and went directly to the open door on the train car just behind the engine. There was no way she was ever going to tell Grace that she didn’t need to choose between the three men. She had them all, and as far as she was concerned, she wasn’t going to give up any of them. That thought settled into her mind as she mounted the steps into the car. Maybe she was making a choice and just hadn’t realized it yet.

Once up the steps and fully into the car, Willow stopped and looked around. Nothing about the car had changed, but there was no one there to meet her.
They must be in the back.
Sipping the last of her coffee, she tossed the now-empty cup into a trash can to the right of the door and started through the car on her way to the observation deck.

Today was a lot chillier than the last time she had ridden the train. She wondered if the observation car would be as cozy this time. There was quite a bit of cloud cover, and the sun wasn’t streaming down. If they did happen to get naked, she hoped it was warm enough that she didn’t shiver.

She made it to the dining car, and there was still no sign of any of the boys. This was strange. Had they forgotten? No, they couldn’t have. Grace would have said something if they weren’t here. Pulling off her gloves, she shoved them into her coat pockets and continued on. “Jack? Josh?” She entered the observation car and started up the small flight of steps to the deck above. “Mikey?”

When her view of the observation deck was clear, she stopped dead in her tracks, still on the staircase. Heat bloomed inside her.

There, lounging on the bench seats, were her three men. All of them looking like the cat who was waiting on the canary to arrive. Mikey was lying on his side, head propped on one hand, the other hand lazily twirling a pair of handcuffs.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” Jack said. He was sitting on the opposite side of the car, elbows resting on his knees. Willow didn’t fail to notice what looked like a piece of black leather stretched between his hands, and he was absently twisting it.

“I’ll go tell George we’re ready,” Josh said, rising from his place beside Jack. “Come on up, Willow. You look like a deer frozen in a pair of headlights.” He held out his hand.

She placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her the rest of the way up the stairs. Once she was standing on the deck, Josh placed a quick kiss on her cheek then headed down the staircase and out of the car.

Mikey shook his head. “I can’t believe how much Josh has changed since you came into our life,” he said, pushing himself up to a sitting position.

“What do you mean?” she asked, unbuttoning her coat, her eyes on the silvery glint of the handcuffs Mikey was toying with.

Mikey shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess he doesn’t seem so—”

“Closed off,” Jack interjected.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Mikey replied, pointing a finger at Jack before looking back up at Willow. “He talks more, acts like a regular guy instead of a soldier perpetually at attention.”