Four Play

by Maya Banks

  In the meantime, he’d made her crave this—him. Only he could deliver the pain-touched pleasure she hungered for.

  So when his palm skated down her free arm again and he wrapped warm fingers around it, easing it behind her back, she didn’t struggle.

  A second later, the cuffs tightened around her other wrist. She was well and truly bound.

  “Damn, that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, sweetheart, you in my cuffs.”

  He was breathing hard now. So was she.

  Then his lips made their way up her neck. He reached around her to cup her cheek and turn her head toward him. Their mouths met, his open, devouring, relentless. Heat permeated her everywhere, and as he dragged his teeth along her bottom lip, she moaned.

  “That’s it ...” he encouraged, his voice low. “Just submit.”

  A moment later, he cupped her shoulders and guided her to bend over the back of the sofa. With her hands cuffed behind her back, she was helpless when he dragged his palm up her spine, then filtered his fingers into her hair and gripped. The tinge of pain in her scalp blended with the discomfort of having her hands bound behind her, then mingled with the delicious, constrictive weights dangling on her nipples. The conflicting sensations bombarded her, overloading her body.

  Then he smacked her ass. Hard.

  She yelped. The sting and heat spread. She moaned.

  “You know the rules, Kelsey. Quiet unless you’re coming, and only then when I give you permission.”

  She bit her lip hard, nodding.

  “Good girl. I reward obedience. Let’s try it again.”

  Another smack, this time on her other cheek, higher up. She tensed, but smothered the sounds by pressing her lips together.

  “Very good,” he praised, cupping her breast, tugging on her ring.

  Kelsey sucked in a sharp breath, but kept her gasp inside.

  “Such tight little nipples. I can’t wait to suck them.”

  Damn, she’d come right then and there if he did. Everything between her legs had become a burning ache, her clit actually throbbing in time to her heartbeat. Her blood was on fire, and she felt so empty without him. With her wrists cuffed, she was powerless to remove her shirt or panties or touch him. She wasn’t even allowed to say a word.

  Totally at his mercy. Kelsey mentally railed against it . . . yet burned for more.

  “Are you as aroused as your nipples suggest?” His fingertips grazed her abdomen in a straight line down to her curls, then slipped into her slit to caress her clit. “Ah, look how wet you are.”

  He held up his fingers in front of her face, confirming what she already knew: She was soaked.

  “You like me bending you to my will,” he rasped in her ear. “And it makes me fucking hard to do it.”

  Kelsey breathed erratically, dying for whatever Jeremy did next. She needed to come so badly . . .

  Once more, the flat of his hand connected with her ass, firing the skin. Then he repeated the slap on the other cheek. Again. And again. And again. She wriggled, not sure if she arched away from his spanking . . . or into it. Every time she moved, the friction of her wet folds nearly made her lose her mind. Her blood rushed to her ass, her pussy, collecting, engorging, arousing her.

  The spanking wasn’t brief—or easy. With each smack, he picked up intensity and speed.

  She tossed her head back, wriggled, arched. But his hand in her hair ensured she didn’t move much.

  “You’re going to come.” It wasn’t a question.

  He knew her body so well.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Not until I tell you.” The spanking ceased, his hands moving almost reverently down her ass. “Luscious and glowing. I want to see your ass this way every day.”

  Oh, God. Her womb clenched hard, releasing more moisture. She was a breath away from orgasm.

  Suddenly, she didn’t care what punishment he invoked, as long as he ended this torment. “Help me.”

  Guiding her to stand, her back to his chest, he murmured in her ear, “You’re not to speak.”

  Then he swatted her right cheek again.

  Her breath stuttered in her chest, and heat washed over her skin, melting her pride. “But I need you. I need ...”

  “For me to fuck you?” he growled.

  “Yes. Please, yes. Now.”

  “Hmm, begging. I do love that. I’ll forgive you for speaking this once. Tell me what you want.”

  “Everything!” She rubbed her ass against him, and the abrasion of her sensitive flesh against his slacks nearly undid her.

  Low laughter rumbled in her ear. “Let’s get these panties off.”

  The air conditioner kicked in, and cool air blasted her nipples. He grazed his knuckles across them, and she gasped, clenching impotent fists at the small of her back.

  Jeremy hooked his hands into the waistband of her panties and tugged them halfway down her thighs—and left them there. Before she could protest, he turned her, then lifted her against his body with a hand under her ass. Her nipples rubbed across his starched shirt, her wet sex against his zipper. She was about to go out of her mind.

  Walking around the sofa, Jeremy set her down, unzipping his pants as he watched her face. She leaned in to suck the tempting hard steel length inches from her mouth, but he sank down on the sofa beside her, grabbing the bottle of baby oil still resting on the carpet in one hand. A second later, he had it open and in his palms, rubbing the oil with a harsh fist all over his cock.

  Kelsey’s stomach clenched.

  His head snapped up and he sent her a laser stare. “What am I going to do to you?”

  She swallowed hard. “Fuck my ass.”

  He nodded. “And you want me to, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  With a grim smile, Jeremy brought her against him and cradled her across his chest, one arm beneath her bent knees. The hand supporting her back disappeared for a moment, then she felt the head of his cock pressing into her back entrance.

  In this position, she was utterly helpless. Besides cuffing her hands, he now held her legs together as he slowly sank into the deepest recesses of her body. The tingle that spread over her felt as if someone dipped her in pure electricity, one inch of her body at a time. She gasped, tensed, her breath shuddering, faltering. And still he pressed in and in and in.

  Until he was balls deep and she swore she was going to break in half. He felt enormous in this position. And with her cheeks still on fire from his spanking, sensation drowned her.

  “And now I’m going to fuck you. Hard. You’re going to take me, come for me, and feel how damn much I want you.”

  Kelsey had no time to comment before he lifted her with his strong arms up and down on his cock. The friction boggled her mind and senses as he slid hotly into her. Every inch seeming to forge deeper than ever, especially when his hips surged up to meet her body, and he slammed home.

  She tossed her head back, hovering on the edge of orgasm. “Please! Oh . . . oh!”

  “Beg sweetly,” he demanded between clenched teeth. “What do you want?”

  “Harder,” she whimpered. “Let me come. I need it ...”

  “I can’t wait to see you come undone for me.”

  He lowered his head and popped her nipple in his mouth. Combined with the little ring, the sensation was almost too much. When he released her knees and caressed his way between her thighs, fingers circling her clit, Jeremy barely had to touch her before she exploded, a kaleidoscope of colors behind her eyes. She bucked, convulsed, as pleasure erupted under her skin. She screamed until her throat hurt, until she ran out of breath, until tears ran down her eyes. And still the ecstasy drowned her, scraping her raw, leaving her trembling and gasping.

  Instead of slowing down, Jeremy lifted her and set her down on her knees, face in the armrest. Again, he grabbed her hair, thrust his cock deep in her ass, then unleashed the flat of his palm on her ass again and again until she screamed with another agonizing release, and he
came on a long, hard groan.

  “No more fucking Rhys and Tucker without my permission. Who do you belong to?” His fist tightened in her hair. “Tell me.”

  Kelsey opened her mouth to refute him . . . somehow. She never got the chance.

  “Not you, asshole.”

  Tucker!

  Suddenly, Jeremy was ripped away from her, and Kelsey spun around to see Tucker slam his fist into Jeremy’s jaw. “Don’t you ever fucking touch her again.”

  CHAPTER | NINE

  Kelsey’s heart stopped when Tucker’s punch slammed into Jeremy’s jaw. Her boss’s head whipped around, and he staggered to one knee.

  For an endless moment, tension sucked the air from the room in a soundless gasp. Everyone froze. Silence deafened.

  She broke it.

  “Stop! Oh my God.” She scrambled off the sofa, arms still cuffed at her back, panties clinging to her thighs, to glare at Tucker. “You hit him?”

  After rubbing his offended jaw, Jeremy fastened his pants and turned to Tucker. Rage boiled in his eyes. “Kelsey is mine. I took her, as is my right.”

  “Wait a minute!” Kelsey protested, glaring at Jeremy. “I never said that.”

  Tucker pushed her behind him protectively and leaned toward Jeremy, pressing the advantage of his slightly greater height. “She’s not a possession. And you have no right to beat her.”

  Beat her? Kelsey’s jaw dropped. How could both of these men who felt so right in her life have gotten the situation so wrong?

  “She is right here,” Kelsey pointed out. “And this is ridiculous. Somebody uncuff me.”

  Tucker hooked an arm around her waist and slid her to his side. She could feel his critical gaze on her backside. “My God, what did you do? Not only are her hands bound like a criminal, but her ass is bright red.”

  “Her skin takes a spanking beautifully. She’s gorgeous bound. And she enjoyed it.” Jeremy’s voice sounded like he was grinding glass with his teeth.

  “Not fucking possible.” Tucker shook his head. “She’s too independent to want to be your doormat.”

  “Dude, I think Jeremy is telling the truth,” Rhys cut in as he approached Kelsey and put an arm around her. He surveyed her naked body, lingering between her legs. “Her pussy is soaking wet.”

  She closed her eyes as mortification and dread slid through her. What the hell was the matter with everyone?

  “Someone uncuff me!” she demanded. Maybe then, she could straighten this out. Because right now, this train was on the fast track to disaster.

  Jeremy and Tucker both moved in her direction, but Rhys was already fishing the cuff key out of Jeremy’s bag of tricks.

  “Ask questions before you throw punches next time. You might find out that she was perfectly willing.”

  Both Jeremy’s words and tone were reasonable.

  Until he hauled back and delivered a right cross to Tucker’s jaw that sent her friend-turned-lover reeling.

  Kelsey screamed. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Jeremy turned a hard stare on her, his chest rising and falling with swift, harsh breaths. “Not letting anything or anyone come between us again.”

  “Stop it!” she demanded.

  As Rhys finally came to the rescue with cuff keys and unfastened them, she rolled her shoulders, grabbed a sofa cushion to cover herself, then turned to Tucker. “And you? What are you thinking? Did you imagine this fight would thrill me? I didn’t ask you to defend my honor.” She looked at them both. Neither looked contrite exactly, but they winced. It was a start.

  “I told you that I can’t choose one of you,” she went on. “You all said you understood and would stifle the jealousy. My first mistake was in hoping you could. No, I take that back. My first mistake was falling in love with three men. Being unable to choose was the second. But you can rest assured I won’t make any more mistakes.”

  Quickly, she unhinged the little rings from her nipples and threw them at Jeremy. Then she cast an accusing glance at Tucker and stormed out of the room, slamming her bedroom door—and locking it.

  What the hell was she going to do now?

  Stupid, stupid, stupid. On Sunday afternoon when she’d returned from small-town Motel Hell, she’d feared that a relationship with all or one of them wasn’t going to work. No, if she was being honest, she’d known it. Still, she’d allowed herself to be seduced by them, by her fantasy of being happy with them all. They’d been on their best behavior, not because they’d worked their differences out, but most likely because they’d agreed to temporarily buried their jealousy so she would reject Garrison’s job offer and stay in Austin.

  Chewing a ragged fingernail, Kelsey sat on her bed. Great group sex aside, what had changed since she’d downed the bottle of wine and acquired the unfortunate hangover?

  Nothing. No, that wasn’t quite true. The jealousy had escalated.

  Jeremy was still dominant and possessive. And Tucker abhorred the way he treated her, despite the fact something inside her needed it.

  And as Jeremy guessed, Tucker had mentally slotted himself as her man. Clearly, he shared her physically because it turned him on. A shock to her. Probably even a shock to him. But not for one second did she imagine that he wanted to share her emotionally.

  No way could Rhys be expected to play referee all the time . . . assuming he’d even want to. Even before they’d become lovers he’d been displeased if he didn’t get enough alone time with her.

  Could she possibly ever please them all? Make them secure enough in her relationship with each of them individually to end the resentment and fighting?

  Kelsey sighed. Her fantasy of the three men she loved had turned into a nightmare.

  In the last nine days, she’d leapt into the emotional pit. Her situation had morphed from difficult to truly fucked up.

  Could she ever work alongside Jeremy again and not remember exactly how desirable and submissive he’d made her feel? Could she ever invite Rhys over for a friendly movie again and not dwell on the feel of his mouth on hers, him deep inside her? And Tucker, he could no longer be her rock-solid friend who always helped her through trials and tribulations. Now he’d forever be her alpha lover in her mind, working that thick cock of his into her . . . and directing Rhys to do the same.

  The fact that her relationships with them could never be what they’d been nine days ago was entirely her fault. The men . . . they were who they were, and it was her fault for hoping they could accept this. Or thinking she could change them.

  At this point, she could see only one course of action—and the mere thought crushed her heart. Tears stung, fell.

  “Kelsey?” Rhys called softly from the other side of the door.

  So he’d either volunteered or been appointed to draw her out. Not happening until she was good and ready.

  Instead of answering—he’d never give up if he knew she was listening—she dragged herself to the bathroom, lugging the suitcase she’d packed for her Miami trip, and turned on the shower. Thirty minutes later, she put the finishing touches on her lipstick, grabbed her suitcase again, and, with a deep breath, marched out her bedroom door.

  The three men lingered there, Rhys sitting, Tucker nervously tapping his thumb on his thigh, and Jeremy pacing from one end of the living room to the other. As soon as she stepped into the hall, they all turned her way—and ran to her in one huge wall of testosterone.

  “Kels, please don’t be angry.” Tucker stood in front of her, blocking her path. “I only wanted to protect you.”

  “And keep you from me,” Jeremy pointed out. “From what we both need, sweetheart.”

  Rhys elbowed Tucker aside and took her face in his rough hands. “Please, baby. Let’s talk. We can work this out.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “We can’t. It’s my mistake. You’re not built for this sort of relationship, even temporarily. At this point, I’m not even sure I am. Since I can’t choose between you and I created this mess, it’s up to me to fix it. And that
’s what I’m doing.”

  Tucker glanced at the suitcase she rolled behind her. “By leaving?”