Free Divine Grace by Heather Rainier Page A

You don’t seem like the beer drinking type, so I picked up a bottle of sangria as well, if you like that sort of thing.”
    “She loves it! And who might you be?” Charity asked as she took the bag containing the beer and wine from him.
    “Hi. I’m Ethan Grant, and you must be Charity. I’m glad you could come over. Grace was pretty shook up earlier.” As Grace came near, he put his arm gently around her shoulders and drew her a little closer. His fingers stroking her shoulder sent warm shivers racing over her skin.
    “I appreciate all of y’all looking out for her. Everything is going to be fine now that he’s gone.”
    “I hope so,” Jack said. “We’ve got a poker buddy who’s a cop. I called him and told him what happened, and he said he’d drive by regularly tonight.”

    54

    “I brought my shotgun with me. He’ll get the message if he comes back,” Charity replied sweetly.
    Adam whistled appreciatively as he turned around and walked to the back door. “Remind me to never piss you off, woman. I’m gonna finish up out here before it gets too dark to see.”
    Everybody laughed.
    Charity then set about tidying the house from their quick pack-up of Owen’s belongings. Jack and Grace finished the food prep in the kitchen while Ethan replaced the deadbolts on all her doors. Jack joined Adam on the back porch, tending the heating grill, and Ethan joined them on the back porch after he was done.
    Adam finished the installation and turned on the AC. He walked in the kitchen and said, “Baby, you’ve got air conditioning again.”
    “Oh, thank you, Adam!” Grace rose from her chair and gave him a great big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She enjoyed the gentle, loving way Adam wrapped his arms around her.
    He released her after a few seconds, retrieved a beer from the refrigerator, and went out the backdoor to join Jack and Ethan.
    “I’ll be right back. I’m gonna shut all the windows.” Grace left the room, and Charity carried the pan with the steaks out to the guys to put on the grill.
    Charity came back inside and poured two generous wineglasses full of the sangria and sat down at the kitchen table with Grace. “So…Jack?”
    Charity eyed Grace devilishly and bit down on the heel of her hand dramatically.
    “Yeah.” Grace breathed out on a long sigh and nodded, ready for the interrogation to begin.
    “And…Adam? Mmm-mmm- mmm !” She made clutching movements with her hands spread apart like his shoulders were between them.
    “Uh-huh!” Grace replied, remembering what it felt like to be nestled between those big shoulders when he’d hugged her Sunday night. She closed her eyes, wanting to go there again and again.
    “And…Ethan,” Charity whispered, licking her lips. Grace had to giggle.
    “Mmm…yeah,” Grace agreed in heartfelt appreciation as they toasted her men.

    55
    “When did you meet them?” Charity asked, expecting details. Grace gave her all the basics—leading up to the funeral and how she’d only recently met Adam and Ethan. She told her about the funeral, the AC, Owen, and, more importantly, how attracted she felt toward all three of them, including her conflicted emotions, feeling that she somehow was acting like a tramp wanting all three of them.
    “Sis, it looks to me like all three of them want you . Have you done anything yet?”
    “ No !” Grace whispered. “I’m scared to. How would I choose? I don’t want to choose.”
    “You want them all, don’t you?”
    “Am I crazy?”
    “No.” Charity refilled their glasses again. “If they all treated me the way they treat you and I wasn’t already married with a family, they’d have me eating out of their hands. All at the same time, too.” She had a wicked gleam in her eyes.
    “Bad girl.”
    “You have no idea, baby sister. If I were you, I’d be on them like white on rice, any way they wanted me.”
    “You would not believe the dream I had this morning, right before I woke up.” Grace said.
    Charity