Chapter 15

With the water cooling down, I stepped out of the bathtub, rubbed my body dry, and put on my newly made sleeping garments. I was happy with them!

Opening the door, I found myself face to face with Lucas. What is with this development? Was he peeping, waiting? Does he want to do something naughty? And, why am I getting excited?

"Is there something?" I shyly asked.

"Water." He replied glancing at the bathtub in the kitchen.

"Eh? Oh. Oh! Are you going to help me with the water?" He nodded at my question. "I see. Thank you." I smiled a bit abashed. And, here I was, hoping for something else.

Lucas quickly did his task, using two buckets to empty the bathtub. The water was not throw, but used to water the tree in the courtyard. The bathtub was then dried with a rag and leaned on the kitchen wall, inside.

No matter how desolate it looked where we lived, someone could easily pass by and steal the thing if left outside.

It was a really well-done bathtub after all.

The only inhabitant in the courtyard, Mrs. Rabbit, had dug a little cave in the ground which was filled with dried leaves by Felix so she could sleep in there; so, she was safe from being stolen at night. That cave was also the place where she would soon give birth to her offsprings.

I stood by the courtyard, thinking about inane things until I felt someone standing before me. I looked up to see a gruff beard hiding a manly face, and silent eyes staring down at me.

The sun had already set, and the only source of light came from the candle inside the house as the one from the kitchen had already been snuffed out by Lucas. And, even that light was too weak to fully reach where we stood. Meaning, it was too dark to see the expression on his face.

However, it seemed he could perfectly look at me as his hand steadily made its way to my neck, and his thumb rubbed a specific spot in it.

For a moment, I wondered why he touched there until my mind reminded me that spot was where Joseph had kissed – sucked – at noon. I instantly stiffened. Had that hooligan left a mark? I nervously stared at the quiet Lucas.

"Are you… are you angry? Do you mind that Jos… Mh!" I did not know if he was angry or not as he silenced me with his lips.

His movements were not as inexperienced as before, but they still had an amateurish hint to them. And that was fine with me. We could slowly discover together what makes us feel good.

Like being imprisoned in his firm arms that pulled me to his chest. One of his hands even seductively caressed my hip, just shy away from fondling my butt. If I thought Joseph was a teaser, Lucas was splendidly much better at it than the former, and he even did so unintentionally!

The slow pace of our making out allowed me to perceive things. Especially what was happening between us. I was amnesiac, not dumb.

Lucas felt like that shy and serious first love with whom I could imagine our future together. He possessed that stable feeling in a relationship all women wanted. Me included. Of course, that he was shy did not mean he was afraid of taking what he wanted when he was already in the mood.

With my arms wanting to coil around his neck, I had to tiptoe to reach him. Noticing my predicament, he used his big hands to grab my ass, and lifted me off the ground. I had a moment to be impressed by his strength before I deftly wrapped my legs around his hips.

Soon, I was pressed against a wall. In my new position, my sleeping garments rolled up, leaving me naked down there. And, of course it allowed me to distinctly feel his hardness twitching behind his pants.

Breaking the kiss, I whispered in his ear before biting his earlobe. "Take it out." He paused, dumbfounded.

Due to our closeness, I could see the hesitation in his eyes. I appreciated the fact he did not want to go all the way, knowing we were unmarried. I also had my own principles to uphold: no penetration until marriage, anything else was valid.

What I wanted was valid, yet he must have misunderstood.

Taking advantage of his frozen figure, I took the matter into my hands – literally. I untied the string that held his pants and quickly pulled them down – Gosh, he was also not wearing any underwear! I grabbed his really big and hot member, and rubbed it against my folds.

Catching up with my intentions, he started to vigorously move his hips to rub our parts together.

He resumed our kiss to not let any sound escape from my mouth. I inwardly thanked him for his consideration as I did not want the other brothers to hear what we were doing right outside the house.

But, not letting out any sound from my mouth meant I could clearly hear the sound of our pelvises hitting each other.

Ah, that made it all the more exciting, sensual and indecent that, for a moment, I wanted the brothers to come out and see what was happening here.

The combination of the frantic kiss and our frenetic hips had my head in a haze, jumbling my thoughts. With this pace, we soon reached our limit as I tensed, my nails embedding onto his shoulders, and he erratically jerked his hips, spreading a viscous liquid on my folds.

I just took a bath, yet now I was covered in sweat and other fluids.

But, I loved our encounter!

If possible, I would love for Lucas to be my first. I wanted to know what he could come up with in his inexperience and eagerness.

"Wait here." His roughened voice took me out of my wicked stupor. He placed me back on the ground before walking off to the well while grabbing and pulling up the waistband of his pants.

Soon, he returned with two pieces of clean and wet pieces of clothe. Oh, those are the strips of fabric I cut from my dress. I had no idea what they could be used for, but it seemed they made do for cleaning dubious fluids.

In his hurry to return, he did not clean himself back at the well. Turning around, he took take care of his matter while I took care of mine.

"Belle." He called out after a while, his back still facing me.

"Hm?" I replied as I made sure I was squeaky clean.

"I'm not angry." He said. I looked up and stared at his wide back, those strong shoulders, those powerful hips. All him was like a steady mountain.

"Of course you are not. We just had an amorous moment under the starry sky. What is there to be angry about?" I teased this giant and sensual bear.

He shook his head and turned, his gaze locking with mine. "We won't get angry." He elucidated.

I should have been born stupid if I did not get the meaning of his words. I thought our heated moment began because he wanted to erase all the traces Joseph left on me, but it seemed my thoughts were erroneous from the beginning.

Lucas never cared for his brother's marks. He just wanted to leave a few of his own, too. To not let me forget that even if I received some love from another brother, I was also his.

"I understand." I truly did. I understood that being with these brothers was a blessing. "Thank you, Lucas." I walked up to him and hugged him. He wrapped my body in his arms, and that was all I needed to feel safe.

To be reassured that my decision was not bad, that others were the ones who were trying to make me believe that what I was doing was wrong.

So, lady in my dream, whoever you are, I am not wrong.

When I entered the house, hand-in-hand with Lucas, there was a strange mood inside. Felix was already in dreamland, snoring for everybody to hear. The strangeness came from Ethan and Joseph, who seemed to have been waiting for us.

I had no time to ask when Joseph pulled Lucas out of the house and Ethan approached me with a smile on his face.

What was with this situation?

"Come 're, I'll apply the medicine." Ethan spoke and signaled me to stand by the table where the lit candle was placed. On it, there was also a box that held medicine and bandages.

"Thank you." I softly said, afraid of waking up the sleeping Felix.

"Felix always sleeps early when he helps waterin' the crops. His body's a bit weak as he missed a lot of meals growin' up." Ethan explained as he checked my wound. There was a hint of self-blame in his voice, as if it was his fault their parents died early. "He doesn't get sick often, and we three do our best to give 'im more food to make up for when he was a baby and didn't eat well. We barely fed ourselves back then."

"What happened?" I only knew their parents were gone since long ago, but I had never gathered the courage to ask how they died.

Ethan finished bandaging my head, and led me to my bed. We sat there in silence. His face was the epitome of steadiness, but the fact he was kneading my hand betrayed the fact he was nervous and hesitant. I guess I was still a stranger in this big brother's mind.

He sighed and looked at me with gentle eyes. "Mom got sick right after havin' Felix. We didn't have money, so we couldn't call a doctor. We had to borrow a few coins and sell many things, but when we finally got the money, Mom couldn't make it. We used that money to bury 'er in the mass grave on the other side of the village."

"Dad always liked drinkin'. When Mom died, it got worse. One day, after he was paid for the random job he got, he used the money to get completely wasted. Next day, someone came to tell us there was someone who looked like our Dad dead on the road, that I needed to go identify the body. He was ran over by a horse in the middle o' the night. The rider never stopped to help."

"I am sorry." That was all I could say after hearing the story.

"It's fine. It's only me who remembers them. Lucas and Joseph have no impressions left, much less Felix." He really looked fine, as if he was talking about some stranger's parents, but was it really fine?

On another note, for him to be telling me about his parents meant he was serious about me, about the idea of me staying.

I leaned on his chest as my arms hugged his middle. "You did well." I comforted, patting his back. He snorted, but still accepted my hug and even pulled me closer to him.

This was the taste of an adult and mature man; even though I was consoling him, he also soothed my heart. It was the aura of worldly experience.

And it was all broken when the door was opened, giving way to a hissing Joseph. "I can't believe ya didn't go all the way! Ouch! Hittin' me won't make me think better of you, Lucas!" The hooligan complained as he rubbed his slapped head. He glanced at Ethan and me, and at our hugging position. "Look! Ethan knows it's best to directly let 'er know what we want." He pointed at us.

"Joseph," Ethan lowly called out, earning the third brother's attention. "Shut up and go to sleep." The softly spoken words hid a danger that sent a shiver down my spine. Joseph also visibly stiffened.

"Fine." Joseph finally huffed. He walked towards us, and ignoring Ethan, he grabbed my chin and deposited a loud kiss on my lips. "'Night, Isabelle." He grinned. This hooligan! I inwardly fumed.

But all that anger disappeared with the soft peck from Lucas, "Good night, Belle."

Wait, what was with this new development? Have they finally come out clean with me? Just because I let these two brothers have their wicked way with me, they are not hiding their advances anymore?

First, I got involved with Lucas, then, with Joseph, then, the next one should be… a last kiss was pressed on the corner of my lips.

"Night, Belle." Ethan's voice echoed in my ear.

And the light was snuffed out.