STORY EXCERPT

Angela Kennedy sat on the porch of the house she shared with her young ward, Todd Weatherly. Todd was seven years old and the light of Angela’s life. He had already been through so much for a boy so young. They both had been unlucky in life. Now that they were a family, life was better. She could only hope and do her best for both of them. She’d known Todd for five years since she was seventeen. They had been in the same foster home before she turned eighteen.

Angela’s parents had been killed in a car wreck when she was fifteen, and the court had decided she was too young to live on her own. Her half brother Thomas had been in jail at the time and there was no one for her to live with, so she was put in foster care until she graduated from high school. In the third home she was placed in, she’d found Todd. Todd had been two years old when his parents were killed in a car wreck, leaving him an orphan. None of his family had been able to take care of him, so he was sent to foster care also.

Todd and Angela had bonded in that home, and when Angela was old enough to leave she’d sworn to Todd she wouldn’t leave him behind. It had been a lot of work and a lot of money, but she’d kept her promise and now Todd was living with her. There was still some paperwork to be completed, but she and Todd were a family.

Angela and Todd had been shopping earlier that day, and when they came out of the grocery store Todd called her, “Angie, come here! Look! Can we have one? Can we?” Angie walked over to see what had Todd so excited.

He was holding a puppy and looking into a big box. “There’s so many.”

Angie pushed the cart full of groceries over to where Todd was now sitting on the ground holding one puppy. “Can we have one? Can we?” he asked excitedly, and he put that puppy back and picked up another one. “The lady says they are free, and they are siblings. What’s a sibling, Angie? Is that like you and me?”

Angie squatted down next to Todd and reached to pet the puppy he was holding. “Sort of, honey. A sibling is a brother or sister that came from the same mother and father.”

“Excuse me, miss,” Angie heard a voice say and looked up to see four of the cutest firefighters standing beside her cart which was blocking the path. They were all tall, with varying shades of red hair.

“Oh! Sorry, let me move that out of your way.” As she went to stand, she lost her balance and would have fallen had one of the men not caught her.

Angie felt a tingle in her arm where his hand was wrapped around it. She stood and turned to thank him, but he had released her and was walking towards the store. He turned his head and smiled before giving her a wink and little wave. Then he disappeared into the store.

Angie turned back to Todd. He handed her the puppy, and she snuggled it next to her face. A few minutes later, she, Todd, and the two puppies were on the way home.

Later that evening after dinner Angie finally gave in. “Just around the block and come right home. Hold the leashes tight and don’t run. Do you understand?”

Todd nodded. He had begged her to let him walk the puppies for hours before she gave in. She should have never let him go on his own. Now it was dark, and they weren’t home yet. Angela walked down the porch steps and looked up and down the block. She should have gone with them. Where could they be? She grabbed her phone, but who could she call? It hadn’t been long enough to call the police, had it? Would they even do anything? She paced back and forth and called for Todd, but nothing. Where would she even start looking?

After a few more minutes she saw a fire truck stop in front of her house. What now, she wondered as she walked towards the truck to see what was happening.

“Angie, Angie!” Todd yelled as he climbed out of the truck and ran up the sidewalk. “I got to ride in a fire truck! It was so cool. We couldn’t run the siren, ’cause it wasn’t a mergency, but they let me ride in the front and gave me this hat!” He held up a ball cap with the fire insignia and station name on it.

Four firemen walked up behind him. “Hi, ma’am. I’m River Tompkins. These are my brothers Rock, Sawyer, and Hunter.” He reached a hand to shake hers as three of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen followed him up the walk. The man speaking wasn’t hard on the eyes either. Two of the men were carrying puppies. While River was introducing himself and his brothers, Todd was talking as fast as he could and pulling on her leg.

She looked at them and they looked familiar. Where had she seen them before? “You were the guys from this afternoon?” she asked, looking at the four men.

“You were looking at the puppies?” River asked, smiling.

“Yeah, I was going to thank you, but you’d gone into the store.” Angie smiled back at him.

ADULT EXCERPT

“We just want to look and maybe touch,” River said into her ear. “Will you let us look?”

“You’re so beautiful,” Sawyer said and leaned forward to brush his lips across her collarbone. “We like looking at you.”

“I’d like to see you, too. Would you take your shirt off?” Angela asked shyly. The men were so tall and broad. She couldn’t wait to see their chests and see how cut they were. She’d always been turned on by a tall, well-built man, and now she had four of them.

Sawyer leaned back and pulled his T-shirt over his head. Rock released her hands. “Touch Sawyer, honey. He wants to feel your hands on him.”

Angela reached out and let her fingertips brush over the soft golden hair on Sawyer’s chest. “It’s hard and soft.” She laid her hand over his heart and felt the strong, steady beat. Rock and River had reddish-brown hair. Sawyer and Hunter’s were more of a red gold.

“He likes you touching him. We would all like you to touch us,” Hunter said from behind her and lifted his shirt over his head.

His chest was as magnificent if not more than Sawyer’s. Rock was next. He was wearing a shirt with buttons down the front, and he slowly began unfastening them. That left River. She turned a little in his lap so she was facing him.

Hunter and Sawyer helped her move her legs around so that she was now straddling River. She reached to pull the skirt of her dress over her exposed thighs when they stopped her hands.

“We like it. Will you leave it for us?” Sawyer leaned and brushed a soft kiss on her shoulder.

Angela nodded and let go of the material.

“Good girl. Why don’t you help River? Undo those buttons for him,” Rock suggested and peeled his shirt off his shoulders.

River moved his hands to her hips to help her balance and smiled at her. “Go ahead, honey. I’d like to feel your hands also.”

She started releasing the buttons, and as each little bit of skin was exposed, she slid her fingers into the opening. She glanced up at River and smiled before leaning down and brushing a kiss over the skin she’d exposed.

“You’re killing me, beautiful,” River said before fisting her long black hair in his hands and pulling her mouth to his. His kiss was gentle at first, and when she opened to him, he thrust his tongue in and explored her mouth thoroughly.

“I can’t wait to see you spread out on the bed, waiting for all of us.” Rock moved her hair from her back and began trailing kisses along her spine.

The men had moved so that now, Rock was on the floor behind her, with Hunter sitting on one side and Sawyer on the other. Hunter tilted towards her and started kissing her shoulder and arm, smoothing his lips down her skin.

On the other side, Sawyer was slowly tracing patterns along her arm with one finger, swirling it up and down her skin.

“Umm, that feels good,” Angela moaned, leaning her head back as River trailed his lips down her neck and spread little kisses across her chest.

He slid his lips down her body and across the tops of her breasts. Sawyer slid one hand between her and River, cupping one breast in his huge hand. “These are perfect. Made for a man’s hands.” He squeezed gently and lifted her flesh to River’s roving mouth.

Sawyer leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “Do you like knowing my hand is holding you for River? Do you like what River is doing to your body? “

River pulled her nipple into his mouth and started sucking. Angela felt the pull all the way to her core. Her body was starting to heat up, and it was all for them.

“I want to kiss you, too,” Hunter said, leaning closer to her. “Will you let me kiss you, sweetheart?”

Angela nodded and smiled. She turned away from River to face Hunter. He met her halfway and gently took her lips. It was a smooth gentle kiss to begin with, and when Angela relaxed, he deepened the kiss, taking more. He reached around her and threaded his fingers into her hair, pulling her head closer to his.

River continued, sucking and licking on her breast while Sawyer began kissing her neck and running his tongue around the shell of her ear.

Angela felt the heat rising from her core and started rubbing herself over River’s hard erection beneath her.

“Yes, baby. Keep that up,” River panted, moving one hand down between her legs and cupping her mound over her underwear. “She’s so wet I can feel it.”