“Is there something you can take for it? Do you need an ice pack?”
“Oh, uh, I think it will be okay. I have some pain pills, but I try not to take them as they upset my tummy.”
“Did you ask the doctor for some different pills that won’t upset your stomach?”
“Oh, well, I don’t really like going to the doctor.”
He sighed. “We’ll make an appointment tomorrow to take you and get some new pills.”
“What? No!”
He gave her a stern look. “Yes.”
She bit her lip. This sucked. “I don’t need to see the doctor.”
“Who’s going to see the doctor?” Julian asked as he walked into the room, stretching his arms. He’d put on sweatpants and a T-shirt. Drat, she’d hoped he’d sleep a bit longer. Although, considering it was after nine, they’d both slept better than they usually did.
A spanking and a spectacular orgasm would do that for you. Although she felt a bit guilty that she’d slipped into a coma afterwards and hadn’t offered to do anything about their needs.
She wondered if they’d . . . no, surely, she would have woken up for that.
“Keira is. She said the pain pills for her leg hurt her tummy.”
Julian frowned. “I thought the doctor gave you some new ones to try.”
“He did,” she admitted reluctantly. “They upset my tummy too.”
“You never said anything.” Julian gave her a stern look. “How did you keep that from me?”
She squirmed.
“Kitten. Keeping something like that from me is unacceptable,” Julian rumbled. “That’s twenty.”
Oh. Shit. Her clit throbbed at the idea of getting another spanking so soon. Last night, Cole had gone easy on her. She could tell from the look on Julian’s face he wouldn’t be.
“Right now?” she asked.
“She just hurt her leg,” Cole told Julian.
Julian frowned. “What? How?”
“I just jumped and landed funny on it. Nothing serious.”
“I accidentally gave her a fright. I thought she saw me sitting right in front of her,” Cole explained.
“Keira’s always like that when she first wakes up,” Julian said. “Normally, she waits in bed until she’s fully awake. Once she got up when she was still half-asleep and walked straight into a wall.”
She blushed at the memory. “That really hurt.”
Cole shook his head. “Don’t do that again. You stay in bed until you’re fully awake. You can’t get up and wander around and risk hurting yourself.”
She sighed. “I didn’t want to wake Julian.”
Julian gave her a stern look. “That’s not acceptable. I’d rather you woke me up than hurt yourself.”
“You know sometimes overprotectiveness is a turn-on. Other times it’s just a pain in the ass.”
Cole snorted. “Oh, it will be a pain in your ass all right, if you don’t do as you’re told.” His face shut down as he stared at them both warily. “I mean . . .” he trailed off, looking uncharacteristically uncertain.
“Cole’s right. From now on, you stay in bed until you’re awake or one of us is with you,” Julian told her. “Your spanking can wait until tonight. I don’t want you kicking and hurting your leg further. And you need to see the doctor again. I’ll call tomorrow and make an appointment.”
Awesome.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Is that coffee I smell?”
“Sure is. Hope you guys don’t mind me fixing some.”
She glanced over at Julian. She hated that Cole was so hesitant around them, so unsure of his place. She wanted them all to be on an equal footing. But she didn’t know how to heal those last pieces of mistrust that still existed.
“Mind? I could kiss you.”
Julian stiffened slightly. Shoot. Why did she always say the wrong thing? She’d spent most of her childhood walking around on eggshells. She hated that she was having to do that now.
She gave them both a big smile, aware she was totally overcompensating because of the tension between the two of them. “Shall I make breakfast?”
“No,” Julian told her. “I’ll, uh, make breakfast.”
Cole raised his eyebrows.
“I’m a terrible cook,” Keira told him cheerfully. “I’d probably give us all food poisoning.”
Cole grinned. “Um, probably best you don’t cook then.”
Julian started preparing the pancake batter as she sat there, her gaze going between him and Cole. Cole poured them both a coffee. “How do you take it?”
“With the Cinnabon creamer in the fridge,” she told him. “Julian takes his black.”
Cole handed over her coffee after adding the creamer and silence descended once more.
“Sooo, last night was nice.”
Nice? Nice? Jesus, Keira, you’re an idiot.
Both men looked over at her. Julian rolled his eyes while Cole just shook his head with a smile.
She sighed. “I know, I’m such a dork.”
“Hey, no calling yourself names,” Julian told her.
“She does that often, doesn’t she? Puts herself down,” Cole mused.
“Yes. And I don’t like it.”
Uh-oh. She’d wanted them to talk, but she hadn’t wanted them to gang up on her. She attempted to wiggle off the counter.
“Stay where you are,” Cole commanded, placing his hand on her thigh. She took in a sharp breath at his touch. Holy crap. “How is your leg feeling now?”
“It’s fi—” She quickly stopped herself from using that word as Cole gave her a look.
Shit.
“She does that a lot too,” Julian commented as he poured pancake batter into the pan. “Says she’s fine when she’s not.”
She frowned. “What is this? Pick on Keira day?”
“No,” Cole told her. “This is about taking care of Keira always.”
Well, when he put it like that it didn’t sound so bad.
“She likes to deflect from what’s going on with her. She smiles and says she’s fine no matter how she’s feeling.”
Cole crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s going to stop, Keira. How’s Julian supposed to take care of you properly if you don’t tell him what’s going on? He’s not a mind reader.”
“How about you?” she whispered bravely.
“Am I a mind reader?” he asked, looking confused.
“No, do you want to take care of me?”
“Don’t you know the answer to that?” He cupped her face between his hands. “I want that more than anything.” He straightened, removing his hands. The loss of his touch was like a punch to the gut. “I hope the two of you know where I stand. I want you both. I feel sick over what I did. That it took me so long to find you. But now that I have, I hope like hell I can make it up to you both. That I can prove to you that you can trust me.”
“Don’t know how you’re gonna prove that,” Julian rumbled.
“Well, I have an idea of something I can do. Something that might prove how serious I am. How willing I am to do whatever it takes to show you I want to be a part of your lives.”
“Oh, yeah?” Julian asked. “What’s that?”
“I could submit to you.”
22
I could submit to you.
The words tumbled through Julian’s head as he cleaned up the last of the breakfast dishes. Cole had returned to his hotel room to shower and get changed, leaving them alone after his announcement.
“We’re not actually going to do it, right?” Keira asked, turning to him with a slight wince.
“You need some painkillers,” he said with a frown. He held his hand up as she went to protest. “Just some acetaminophen. They won’t hurt your tummy.”
He moved into the bathroom and grabbed the pills. He brought them back into the kitchen.
“Julian? You’re not considering it, are you?” she asked as he handed her some then filled up a glass with water.
He sighed. “I don’t know.”
Keira’s pale cheeks filled with red. “We can’t . . . we can’t dominate Cole. He’s not submissive.”
“No. Which is why he offered this. It’s a penance. It’s a way for him to prove he’ll do whatever it takes. If he chose something easy, something that wouldn’t cost him, it wouldn’t mean as much.”
“But I don’t know if I can do it. If I want to. I don’t like how hesitant he is. How much he acts like a guest. As though he’s worried that if he makes one wrong move, we’ll kick him out.”
Julian tapped his fingers on the counter. “He’s an alpha guy. But I’m not prepared to submit to him. Or allow you to. Not until we’re sure of him.”
“Do you believe what he told us?”
“I believe him,” he said without hesitation. “Doesn’t mean I agree with what he did.”
“I know. But he made a mistake. We’ve all made those right?”
That they had. Did Cole deserve a second chance? Julian wanted to believe in him. Desperately. The three of them worked so well together. They were right. And yet, there was this part of him that was still skeptical.
“I think we should do it.”
“Julian . . .” Keira bit her lip, looking uncertain. He reached out and pulled it free.
“It will be okay, buttercup. I’ll take the lead. You just follow.”
She rolled her eyes at that endearment, but he saw a smile dance on her lips. Then she grew serious. “I don’t want to hurt him. Physically or emotionally.”
“I don’t want that either. But I need more than words. We’re not forcing him. He’ll have a safeword. Limits. We’ll make certain he enjoys it. One night. Him at our mercy. And I think he might need this as much as we do.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“He feels guilty, baby. Like he owes us something. Don’t you always feel better after being punished if you’ve done something naughty?”
Her face filled with understanding. “All right. So long as we don’t do any damage to anyone. I couldn’t bare that, Julian.”
He kissed her lightly. “I’ll take care of all of us. I promise.”
“We agree,” Julian said as soon as Cole walked into the guest house.
Fuck.
Okay. He hadn’t been certain if they would take him up on his offer. He hadn’t even been sure they’d let him back into the guest house. But they’d agreed.
He was doing this. Submitting to them.
“But there are rules,” Keira blurted out, looking worried.
“All right, what are the rules?” he asked warily.
“Twenty-four hours. You submit to me,” Julian told him. “It makes Keira uncomfortable to think of taking charge.”
Keira nodded, giving him a small smile.
“It will be okay, baby,” he told her. “Don’t stress.”
She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
He frowned. “What are you planning on doing to me?”
“Nothing harsh,” Julian reassured him. “She means she doesn’t want to cause any emotional damage.”
“You won’t do that,” he told her.
“We won’t,” Julian said calmly. “Because you’ll have a safeword to use it if you need to.”
“I don’t need a safeword.”
“We won’t do this unless you have one and promise to use it,” Keira told him with surprising firmness.
He raised an eyebrow at her, and she flushed. Then he winked at her, and she gave him a slow smile back.
“Limits?” Julian asked.
All right, so they were proving they wanted to take this cautiously. “No bleeding. No humiliation. Nothing public.”
Julian nodded. “Good. You’re fine with anal sex?”
Keira made a low noise.
“Okay, little bit?” Cole asked her worriedly.
“Um, yep, just maybe a little bit excited by the idea of the two of you . . . like that.”
“You never cease to amaze me,” he told her warmly. “I’ve never had anal sex, but yeah, with preparation it’s on the table.”
Julian gave his wife a soft look. Then he turned back to Cole. “All right. So, you still want to do this?”
“I do.”
“This doesn’t mean we automatically forgive you. It’s not a promise of anything.”
“I know,” Cole said quietly. But hopefully it would prove to them both he was serious about wanting them. About earning their trust back. And maybe it would do something for that guilt that had taken up permanent residence in his gut.
“Too bad we don’t have any toys,” Julian mused.
“Well, that’s something we can take care of,” Cole told them. He reached into his wallet and held out his black Amex card. “Shopping spree anyone?”
Keira and Julian shared a look. “It wouldn’t be right to take your money,” Keira told him.
Damn it. Sometimes they were too damn honorable for his desires. They never would have accepted his plan to move them into an apartment he owned, for him to, essentially, keep them.
“Not even as a gift?” he cajoled. “For all those missed birthdays and Christmases?”
“Hmm, a man who gives sex toys for birthdays? My kind of guy,” Keira joked. “Screw diamonds, I want handcuffs and vibrators.”
Oh, she’d get her diamonds too. What the fuck was the point of all this money if he couldn’t use it to spoil them both? But he didn’t say that, waiting for Julian to say something. The other man was proud. It couldn’t be easy on him, accepting Joel’s help.
“The toys will be yours, except for anything you want to buy Keira,” Julian told him. “She deserves some spoiling.”
Cole got it. But he didn’t intend to abide by it. He’d just have to be a little bit sneaky about buying things for Julian.
“All right, shopping trip it is. Anything else you’d like to do today?” He waited, unsure what they would suggest.
Julian shook his head. They both turned to Keira. She bit her lip then looked to Julian, finally shaking her head.
Cole narrowed his gaze. “Keira, is there something you would like to do today?” He made his tone firm, not liking the fact that she held back from them both.
Julian shot him a sharp look. Right. Fuck. He wasn’t in charge. But Julian didn’t say anything to him, he simply turned to Keira.
“Kitten? What would you like to do?”
“I . . . I . . .” She looked panicked. Over a simple question. Fuck. Whatever they’d been through, they’d both come away with PTSD, with demons that lived deep. He had to bite his lip from demanding answers.
“Pumpkin, look at me.” Julian came over to where she sat on the couch, crouching in front of her. “You can tell me anything.”
“I don’t want to make the wrong decision,” she admitted.
“Why don’t you tell us,” Cole cajoled. “Then we could all make the decision. If that’s okay with you,” he added, looking down at Julian.
Julian just nodded.
“I just . . . I’d really like to go on a picnic. Aspen told me about this spot. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, but you get a gorgeous view of all of Haven. Will that be okay?”
“It’s perfect. Let me get some food together. Cole, you can eat Keira out while I do that.”
It was almost a flyaway comment. But Cole knew that wasn’t the case.
And since he was submitting to their commands for the next twenty-four hours he couldn’t say no, could he?
Keira gaped at Julian, who turned and walked into the kitchen. He couldn’t be serious? She knew that, essentially, Cole was under his command for the next day, but it wasn’t right to just order him to give her oral sex.
“You don’t have to,” she whispered to Cole, feeling mortified. What if he didn’t want to? She could never make anyone do anything they didn’t wish to.
Cole raised his eyebrows. “I think I do.”
She sho
ok her head. “No, I mean . . . I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to. That would make me feel ill and awful and . . .” She started to shake.
“Keira. Hey, Keira. It’s okay. We don’t need to do anything. Little bit, stop shaking, you’re worrying me.” Cole drew her close to his chest, holding her tightly.
“What’s going on?” Julian asked sharply, striding back into the room. “Why is Keira upset?”
“She’s worried I don’t want to eat her out,” Cole explained.
“Shit.” Julian stepped forward and hugged her back, so she was squished between the two of them. She could barely breathe, but she wasn’t complaining. This was her favorite place in the world to be.
“I don’t want Cole doing anything he doesn’t want to. It’s not right. It makes me feel yuck.”
Cole stepped back, and she let out a murmur of protest, but he simply cupped her face between his hands, tilting it up so she was looking into his eyes.
“Baby, you will not believe the amount of time I’ve dedicated to thinking about all the things I would do to you if I was lucky enough to be allowed to touch your delectable body again. Stripping you, licking you to orgasm, making you come over and over. Fuck, this is a dream come true. I agreed to this. You are not forcing me to do anything. Remember, I have a safeword if I need it. I can guarantee I would never use it over this.”
“Okay. Sorry. This is just . . . it’s hard for me. Especially since I know you’re not a sub and this can’t feel right to you.”
“Touching you will always feel right to me, little bit. No matter the circumstances. All right? I offered to do this. It’s my choice. Always. Just like it’s yours when you submit.”
Right. She got it. It still felt a bit weird to her.
Julian cupped his hand around the nape of her neck. “Are you okay, kitten?”
“Yeah, I’m okay, Sir.”
“Good. Now, I gave you an order,” he looked at Cole, “and you,” he looked to Keira, “need to pull those shorts and panties off and sit down on the couch with your legs spread. I’ll be back shortly and if you’re not in position there are going to be consequences.”
Cole winked at her as Julian turned away. “Best do as he says. Not sure I want to know what those consequences are, they sound rather scary.”
Cole's Mistake (Haven, Texas Book 8) Page 23