Free Divine Grace by Heather Rainier Page B

was only a couple of years older than she was, and they’d always been very close growing up, sharing and keeping each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. So Grace had no compunction whatsoever about sharing every detail of her dream. The wine helped release any information she might have held back. She refilled their glasses, surprised to find that they had polished off the bottle, and told her sister all about it.
    “What should I do now?” Grace finally asked.

     
    * * * *
     
    Charity scoffed. “What should you do? Seize the freakin’ day! That’s what you should do.” Charity took their glasses to the sink to rinse them out.
    Right before she turned on the water, she realized she was hearing the sound of crickets because the window over the sink was wide open . Making a job out of rinsing the glasses, Charity gazed out the window, smiling at the 56

    stunned faces on the men sitting in the lawn chairs on the back porch. Jack looked up at her with guilty eyes.
    Her mama didn’t raise no dummy. She wasn’t about to mess up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that fate had presented Grace with by being tacky and tattling on the men for eavesdropping on their conversation.
    Charity prided herself on being a good judge of character, able to smell a rat at fifty feet. Owen had been a rat. These men were a whole different breed.
    What they all had in common was their obvious adoration of her baby sister.
    She looked down and caught Jack’s eye again and winked at him, trying not to laugh out loud at the dismayed look in his eyes. They never moved a muscle, a captive audience.
    It was time to lay it all on the line. Otherwise, there was no telling how long Grace might torture herself with these conflicting feelings and no telling how long it would take to extract the necessary green light they needed from Grace before they could tell her how they really felt. Grace had little experience with men, and if she counted Owen as a real man, she had no experience. It was time for the master to get to work.
    Charity rejoined Grace at the table and laid her hand on Grace’s arm.
    “Can I ask you a question? Will you be completely honest with me?” At her nod, Charity continued. “Do you love Jack? I don’t mean love to have a fling with him. I mean do you really love him, forever kind of love?”
    “Yes, I think I have practically since his mother introduced us. When I look in his eyes, I see such tenderness and acceptance. He’s a kidder and loves to tease me, but when I’m around him, I want to hold on and never let go.”
    “You said you only recently met Ethan and Adam. How do you feel about them? Do you think you can love them?”
    “There is this raw, new attraction that I feel toward both of them. I love how loyal they are to each other and to Jack. When they look at me, I feel beautiful and sensual. Sort of powerful, you know, like I know they are attracted to me. When I’m near them, there is not a part of me that doesn’t want their hands all over me. Ethan kissed me for the first time tonight right before he went to the hardware store.”
    “Is he a good kisser?”
    “Wonderful. It stole my breath and got me all—” Grace paused, blushing profusely.

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    “—all hot and bothered? Wet? Horny?” Charity asked, grinning and laughing along with her.
    “Yes, yes, and hell yes!”
    “Don’t you wish you could just sit down and have them tell you how they felt about you so you could do the same?” Listen up, boys. Can’t make it any simpler for you than this. Thank me later. “What would you say?”
    Grace rested her cheek in her palm, twirling her wineglass between her fingers. She looked into Charity’s eyes and spoke with a tremulous voice, “I would tell them I love them all . I’m almost afraid to say it out loud even to you, but I adore them. I want them all, and not just temporarily, and not just because they were my knights in shining armor riding in to save me today. I want them and love