Feast of Love
Croft Holiday Series
Ceri Grenelle
Publication Date: December 12, 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Erotic, Menage, MMF, Romance
Armie Croft just lost the last of his vision due to a degenerative disease, something that proves problematic as he bangs his head against the side of the JCA pool during a late night swim. Leighanne Misra, the nighttime lifeguard, jumps in to rescue him, followed by Mitch Karmi…who is wearing a suit and has no training when it comes to performing CPR. Soon after laughing at Mitch’s soaking wet clothes, and double checking to make sure Armie is alive and well, a steamy connection is forged between the three acquaintances.Mitch wants to hide their ménage from the public, much to Armie and Leighanne’s dismay, but he negotiates and asks they at least have the week leading up to the first night of Hanukkah to themselves. The three lovers are stronger together but sometimes you never truly appreciate what you have until you’ve lost it.
Armie woke with the acute awareness that he was somewhere
he’d never been before. The sounds were all wrong to be his apartment or
sisters’ houses or even Dearborne’s back room where drunks sometimes slept the
night off. No, this place sounded almost cavernous, the ambient noise bouncing
off hard surfaces with nothing to absorb them. He stretched his hand to his
right and came up against a soft surface. He was lying on a couch. That wasn’t
ominous; that wasn’t a reason to start panicking. There was a blanket covering
him; thick, felt like wool. Serial killers wouldn’t cover him with a woolen
blanket, nor keep him unbound. A self-deprecating thought shamefully struck his
mind, bringing on another familiar wave of helplessness.
“They would once they realized you were pretty much feeble,”
he muttered.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
Armie went for the voice swinging, but in his panic he forgot he was lying on a couch and
rolled onto the floor. He landed on his back, knocking the wind out of him.
“Armie, Armie, it’s good. It’s Leighanne. You’re at
Mitchell’s apartment.” She grabbed his hands, stilling his frantic and probably
ridiculous-looking arm waving.
Leighanne, shit. He was okay. This was fine. Disgustingly
embarrassing, but fine.
She rubbed his hands between hers, soothing and calming,
bringing him back down to reality, explaining what had happened the night
before. “You were drunk, and we were
worried about you getting home on your own, so we brought you here.”
Right. He’d made a fool of himself at Dearborne’s as well.
There was no way the old man wouldn’t call Ophi and Nettie about his antics
now. The town was too nosy for its own
damn good.
“I went to the bar to have a few beers¼”
“By a few, I think you
mean nearly ten shots and five beers according to a text we got from Dearborne
after bringing you here.” She stroked his cheek with her knuckles, the bones
tripping over his stubble. “You’re a crafty drunk, ordering from different
bartenders so they can’t tell how much you’re drinking till it’s too late.”
“Yeah, call me the master,” he mumbled. He felt for the
couch’s edge and hauled himself up from the floor to sit. The cushion dipped
next to him, and Leighanne’s spicy scent
suffused his senses. He could only be grateful Mitch hadn’t seen his swan dive.
Armie rubbed his eyes. They were gritty. Even though he
couldn’t use them, they still collected moisture overnight that crusted in the
morning. Annoying, really. “Shit.” He didn’t say anything else, thoroughly
self-conscious, even more so than he had been at the JCA. “I should go.” He
looked up, hoping to be facing in her direction.
Armie remembered what it was like to speak to a blind
person, back when he could still see. They didn’t look directly at him,
slightly off centered sometimes. It had been odd, but worse, it had made Armie
feel pity for the person. He never wanted Leighanne to feel that way about him.
“Thank you for rescuing me. Again. Where’s Mitchell?”
A voice from across the room echoed, coming closer as he
spoke. “You both need to start calling me Mitch. I never considered myself a
Mitchell.”
“I like Mitchell.” Leighanne’s lilting tones. Her voice was
so musical. “It sounds classic.”
Mitchell hummed at the compliment, and Armie heard skin
sliding against skin. Was he touching her? Had they done something together? Of course they had. Judging by how they had
felt at the JCA, they were both extremely witty and smart and accomplished. Of course they’d be together. Armie couldn’t
hold back his sigh at another missed opportunity. He should have gotten over
himself back in that locker room, should have given in to what he’d wanted. But
the fear and the shame had been too strong, to the point where it was almost
all he felt nowadays.
Armie cleared his throat. “Thanks, Mitch, for taking care of
me.” The words felt like shrapnel in his mouth. “Is my phone here? I should
call a cab.”
“Uh¼”Leighanne
hesitated a second. “Yes, your phone is here. But we want you to stay for
breakfast.”
“I don’t want to intrude.”
A big hand, Mitch’s hand, squeezed Armie’s shoulder. “You
wouldn’t be intruding. In fact”—he slid the hand up the side of Armie’s neck
and into his curls, playing with the strands and rubbing them against the shell
of his ear—“we’ve been waiting to get you alone again since the locker room.”
Armie didn’t have to guess at Mitch’s meaning. The heat had
been off the charts. Maybe they’d waited for him. Maybe they still wanted him.
That would be too much to hope for. “Can I get a toothbrush and a shower?”
“Only if you stay for breakfast,” Leighanne said, the
hopeful tone in her voice so endearing.
“Yes, I’ll stay.”
I’ve always had an active imagination. An imagination that usually took form in the way of zoning out in the middle of conversations. I eventually decided it was time to share my daydreaming with the world and began to put my musings on paper. It started with Harry Potter fanfiction and grew from there.
I am currently living it up in Northern California after a big move from New York City. And by living it up I mean staying home with my cats, obsessively watching episodes of my favorite TV shows, all of which are extremely geeky, and simultaneously reading the next book on my reading list. I do all this while trying not to pig out on unhealthy snacks. As you can tell, I lead a busy life.
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