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L ucy woke late. Her dreams once more had been filled with two luscious men.

The whole thing seemed so surreal. From meeting them both last Saturday until last night.

Part of her wondered if she were still asleep.

Maybe she’d discover it was really the Sunday morning after the club, and this was all just some marvelous dream she’d had after dancing with the two of them last night.

When she entered the parlor, the sight of three empty coffee mugs gave her a jolt in the pit of her stomach. She gasped, clasping her hands in front of her mouth as reality hit. She was going out with two men—at the same time!

Not only that, if she wanted to, she could have them make love to her—together!

She grinned against her hands.

Wanted to?

Hell, that was all she’d had on her mind since she’d first set eyes on them last week across the room.

Still, she was rather nervous. It had been a while since she’d been with a man, and now she was about to embark on an adventure with two.

Would she be able to handle it? Would they find that she didn’t fit into their idea, their Dom-sub thing?

The Dom word was still a scary part. Although from the way they spoke it wasn’t as if Sebastian was a ‘do what I say all the time’ sort of Dominant.

It was more that he liked to be in charge and direct things.

Just that thought made her excitement increase.

Finally, she was going to have someone control her, tell her what to do and when to do it during sex.

Just the thought of it filled her with tingles.

Still, she was jumping the gun. This was all so new.

Of course, there was the very real possibility they’d all realize it simply wasn’t for them once they’d indulged in love-making.

It had been so long since she’d even been out with a man more than once or twice for a meal, let alone get physical.

It was frightening and exciting, all at the same time.

She spent the morning doing all the usual household chores but constantly the thought of those two delicious men was in her mind.

In the afternoon, she made a coffee and took it into the library.

Curling up in a chair, she went over yesterday’s conversation.

The fact they hadn’t forced themselves onto her, they’d let her have time to think, impressed her more than anything.

She understood the decisions she’d made were hers and not because they had pressured her.

Lucy was rather surprised at her calm reactions when they talked about having sex with another man or woman.

When she examined her feelings, she noticed it hadn’t shocked her like she imagined it should have.

It seemed right that they would. She wasn’t entirely sure how it would work out, but time would certainly show her.

Maybe it would only last a month or so, like some of their previous ménages, but in the back of her mind she hoped it would lead to something more.

She knew she was ready for a permanent relationship with the right person—or persons.

“Are they looking for a long-term partner or is this just something they do whenever they’re attracted to someone?” she mused.

She remembered one of them mentioning looking for someone to share things with, but she couldn’t remember if they said they wanted to make it permanent. Something was definitely mentioned, but for Lucy yesterday had been an avalanche of information and emotions.

Hell. It’s been an overload since I met them.

It was too much to recall one thing amongst the whirlwind of things said and her own arousal.

Somehow, she’d have to find out before she got too far in.

It would be awful to get involved only to discover for them it was just a short-term thing.

She’d be in danger of falling in love then getting badly hurt.

Then she’d come crashing painfully down.

There would be no doubt she’d be the one whose heart would shatter.

Monday and Tuesday saw Lucy doing everything on automatic.

The roofing contractor she’d organized came Tuesday morning to look at the slate, and spent half an hour climbing all over her roof before giving her his opinion.

She spoke about replacing the entire roof.

He agreed that replacing the roof with slate would be a very expensive enterprise and also suggested she might consider corrugated steel.

Surprisingly, he then went on to tell her that most of the slate was okay and wouldn’t need to be replaced. He promised he’d fax his quote through by the end of the day or early Wednesday. Amazed, Lucy thanked him and went inside to consider her options.

She pulled up the three quotes she’d received so far.

Two of them had given her a quote for steel as well as slate.

Now this contractor had told her most of the roof was okay.

He’d even given her a little sketch of the entire roof showing the areas where the new slate would be put.

There were a few odd places on the roof with broken tiles but most would be where the previous damage was.

Lucy went online to research about the two roofing surfaces and discovered slate would last about four hundred years while the metal maybe fifty, sixty tops.

Her roof was originally put on in the late 1800’s.

Lucy was surprised none of the other contractors had told her that most of the roof was okay.

She was so thankful this new contractor had mentioned it.

Now that she had seen online that slate lasted hundreds of years, she thought they were just hoping she didn’t know and would have the whole thing replaced.

She really wanted to keep the slate if it was at all possible. Metal looked fine, but she really preferred the authenticity and look of slate.

Lucy leaned back in her chair, yawned, and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. Getting to her feet, she decided to make her decision when she received the final quote, although she was ninety-nine percent sure she’d go with him.

Walking into the kitchen, she made a coffee then stood at the pantry door, trying to decide what to eat for lunch.

She’d skipped breakfast and was now hungry.

She grabbed a couple of biscuits from the tin while she decided.

In the end, she made a salad sandwich and took it with the coffee out into the conservatory to put her feet up and relax.

Lucy had been trying hard to avoid thinking too much about Sebastian and Jack. But she hadn’t been able to control her dreams filled with the two of them—generally naked. But now, as she lay with her feet up on the chair, she purposely turned her thoughts to the two of them.

A smile came to her face as she recalled all their interactions.

She could see them vividly in her mind. See the way Jack smiled, his eyes crinkling.

And Sebastian’s tempting mouth. Both men had made her feel excited, so wanted and desired.

Lucy hoped now that they’d had a few days to think, they would still be interested in her.

She knew she wanted to know more about them. She hugged herself and gave a laugh.

Just then, the phone rang and she went into the kitchen to answer it.

“Hi, Mum, just checking to make sure your home.”

“Allison, hello. Yep, I’m here.”

“Great, I need some lemons and the twins want to say hi.”

“That’s lovely.”

“See you in half an hour.”

Lucy wondered what to tell Allison, if anything. Maybe she should keep it secret until she discovered if it was going to work out.

But when Allison arrived, she looked askance at her mother. “What gives, Mum? You’re positively glowing.”

Damn. Now I’ll have to say something.

“I met someone, or rather two someones.”

“Two! Oh wow, that’s great. Never rains, it pours, as they say. So when are you seeing them again? Tell me about them and where you went with each.”

“I met them last week at the club. They’re friends.”

“So where have you been?”

“Friday night we had a meal, and then on Saturday we went for Thai.”

“Way to go, Mum. So are they nice? Which one do you like best?”

“They’re both very nice, very attractive. I like them both.”

“Guess you need to go on a few more dates with each of them before you decide which of them you want to go out with the most.”

Lucy recognized Allison hadn’t connected the two to being two together, and Lucy decided she wasn’t going to enlighten her at the moment.

She simply didn’t contradict Allison when she assumed the meals were one with each man.

She was feeling a little guilty, but at the same time she had the impression her daughter wouldn’t approve of her dating two men together.

Anyway, she told herself , nothing may come of it.

The twins demanded Lucy’s attention, helping her postpone any decision.

At four, they were becoming independent and very talkative.

So after Allison settled the baby in his pram, they all went outside to pick lemons.

Colin and Lizzie loved being able to help, and the two women let them pick the ones on low branches and put them in Lucy’s washing basket.

“I’ve promised to make Lemon Curd for the upcoming school fete. Got a lot of small glass jars so I can probably make at least two dozen.”

“If you want some more glass jars there are some in the pantry.” Wistfully she said, “I love lemon curd. Wish I could cook. Maybe one day I’ll give it a try.”

“It’s really simple, Mum. I’m sure you could do it if you tried.”

“I wouldn’t be game enough. I burn even the simplest of foods, I need to learn.”

“You just need to practice and have a little confidence.”