Skirt Steak (Grade-A Beefcakes 5)

I glanced down. Traitorous nipples!

“You want to suck me off, my dick’s all yours. Anytime. But right now I want to know how you’re feeling.”

I shrugged, thought of the mess that was my life, but had no new answers. “Any word from Liam?”

“Only a text that said they have a warrant for your brother’s arrest, but haven’t found him.”

I frowned, wishing things hadn’t turned to this for Tommy. At the same time, I was going to have to figure out how to pay my bills without working for Dr. Metzger. “I’m pretty pissed at him at the moment, so he better hide because if I get my hands on him before Liam does—”

“Easy, tiger.” He pulled me in for a hug, and I felt a kiss pressed to the top of my head. Against my belly, I felt his dick, long and thick and it pulsed, swelled. “You don’t have to worry about your bills, your mortgage. Liam and I are here to help.”

The front door opened and closed followed by the sound of boots hitting the floor. Liam was here, but I didn’t pay him much thought. No, all my thoughts were on Porter’s words. You don’t have to worry about your bills, your mortgage. Yeah, right!

I pulled back, paced the large kitchen. All the rooms were supersized, perhaps planned that way by Porter since he was so big. Circling the large island, I turned and faced him. “You can’t pay my bills for me.”

I placed my palms on the cool granite as Liam came into the room. He came around and kissed me on the head.

“Before you ask, Tommy hasn’t been found,” he said. “There’s nothing new. He’s probably hunkered down somewhere.”

I nodded, thankful he’d told me right away.

Porter kept his gaze on me even as he crossed his arms. “You don’t need to kill yourself working two jobs when you have two men to help with things now.” Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about Tommy and was like a dog with a dang bone.

I pushed Liam away and narrowed my eyes at Porter. “Men? You think me having you and Liam in my life now is going to solve my student loan debt? That’s not how it works.”

“It is if you move in here and we pay them for you.”

My mouth fell open and I stared at him, then Liam, who still said nothing on the subject, which meant he was in complete agreement, or he knew how to save his own hide. “You don’t get it!” I all but shouted.

Porter moved and leaned against the counter on his side of the island. “Explain it to me then.”

“To us,” Liam finally said. “I want to know the answer to this, too.”

I put my hand on my chest. “I give up my house, one of my jobs and I become beholden to you. Both of you.”

Porter’s eyes narrowed. “You’re our woman, you’re not beholden to us,” he countered.

I looked at the ceiling, the recessed lights bright. “You’re setting me up to fail! If I rely on you, then what happens when you leave?”

Liam stilled. Porter was quiet for a moment, then he spoke, but his voice was low, almost a whisper. “I’m not your father, and I’m not going to bail. I’m not Tommy and won’t use you. While I didn’t put a ring on your finger the other night, I vowed before I fucked you bare that this was forever. I have no intention of leaving, but you seem to think this is temporary.”

I bit my lip, eyed them both. “I want… I want it to be forever, but I’m scared. Men leave. At least they do for me. I can’t rely on anyone but myself, especially when it comes to money. I need to be financially independent.”

“This”—Porter circled his hand in the air indicating the three of us—“this is all new, but it’s real and deep and serious,” he added.

“Very fucking serious,” Liam concurred.

“I hear what you’re saying,” Porter continued. “But you have to understand you’re with two men who put you first. We don’t want you to work two jobs, not because we don’t want you to be self-reliant, but because you work too much. We wouldn’t be who we are if we let you push yourself so hard if we can make things easier.” He sighed. “We open your car door for you.”

I nodded.

“You let us because it’s the gentlemanly thing to do. Same goes for walking beside you but closest to the street. And carrying grocery bags. We do all of that not because you can’t take care of yourself, but because it’s the right thing to do. You’re our woman, and it’s our job to take care of you.”

“And our mothers would kick our asses if they heard we behaved otherwise,” Liam added. He looked to me. “Who helped me stuff and lick all those envelopes for the mill levy survey?”

“I did,” I said. Before election day, the sheriff’s department had to send out notices to everyone in a certain mill district about a measure on the ballot. Liam had been tasked with the job, and I’d gone to the station to help him one rainy Saturday. We’d done that instead of going to lunch and a movie.

“Why did you help?”