by Rayna Stone
“Fuck, I’m gonna love being in this mouth. That’s it, baby, suck me harder. Soon, I’ll have you pinned between us, Ryan fucking you from behind while I take your mouth.” James started pumping, intently watching her the whole time. “I think I’ll smear peanut butter on my dick. Would you like that, angel? Make you take me deep to get it.” She could not help herself. Just the thought made her take him deeper, which caused him to hiss out a breath and tighten his hold on her hair as he sped up. “Yeah, my baby likes that. Tighten up and run your tongue just under the head when you come up. Just like that.” He worked her mouth for a while, giving her praise and instruction, and then he started to really speed up. “Okay, angel, I want you to take me as deep as you can and suck me hard. I’m close. When I come, you swallow. Don’t worry if you can’t take it all, we’ll get to that, but I want you to try and take me deeper.”
Jesus. She wanted to please him like she never wanted anything. She didn’t just want this to be an okay experience for him, and she really wanted him to know she was giving him everything. It was not lost on her that they gave her everything when they were with her. She took a deep, calming breath through her nose and relaxed as much as she could, then took as much of his length as she thought was possible without ruining the moment. She worked her tongue on the underside like he’d told her. When he came in her mouth she did her best with that, too, and only a little amount escaped. She was still catching her breath when Ryan whispered in her ear, “Fucking gorgeous, angel. Next time, watch his face when you make him come like that. He can’t even speak yet.” He kissed her shoulder and murmured something about tidying up her mess. She watched in amusement while Ryan leaned over her and cleaned James’s cock with his own mouth while James ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair. Poor James had not yet managed to disentangle his other hand from her curls. Then Ryan tucked James back in his jeans, scooped her up off the floor, and started making toward the bedroom while calling a “see you later, boss,” over his shoulder. Alexa was still too stunned by everything to make a peep.
“If you’re still recovering, that’s fine. I’ll just get started without you. Feel free to join in whenever. Since it’s my turn, the sooner the better. That was a really good show though, and I’m rather looking forward to the same kind of extreme participation if you don’t mind,” Ryan chirped. He was all smiles and clearly, avidly looking forward to his turn indeed. She couldn’t help it. These two kept her so off balance, in such a good way, she wanted to shout her happiness. Instead she just giggled. Now, she knew she never giggled. But, really. One man had her creaming herself just telling her to drop to her knees and the next instant, the other was like an excited puppy because he was going to get to fuck her with her “extreme participation.” How did her life get to be this awesome?
“I think I’m recovered,” Alexa managed to get out as Ryan dropped her to the bed, somehow losing his clothes in the process.
“Good, I want you to do your very best to keep your hands up at the headboard, angel. I’m going to do my very best to make sure you know just how much I’ve been dying to taste every inch of your body.” Ryan climbed on the bed and grabbed her by the ankle. “I’m also going to make sure you know just how serious we are about making sure you don’t have to worry about your Uncle Pete”—he pulled her leg to the side, spreading her out on the bed—“or ever hiding in a closet in fear.” And then he dropped down until he blanketed her body with his warmth. Ryan’s face was a breath from her own when he whispered on her lips, “My angel’s precious. I won’t let you leave this bed till you know it, and I won’t ever let you forget it.” Then he kissed her. Alexa didn’t know if Ryan’s tone or kiss was more fierce, but both shook her to her soul, because for the first time, she felt precious. Vulnerable. Breakable like glass. Not even when her mother shot her had she felt like something so valuable and treasured, that a mere bullet could destroy her. Right now, she felt so cherished, so precious, that something as meager as a word could slice her in two. It was the most beautiful and terrifying moment in her life.
Chapter Nineteen
Alexa closed down her PowerPoint slides from the last lecture of the day and started to pack up her bag. She really enjoyed teaching the paleontology labs this semester, which surprised her. She had been afraid that actually instructing in a classroom environment would be dull, but the students were really interested in her experiences and the material. Overall, she was settling nicely into the university. She’d even begun to accept the other professors’ invitations to happy-hour socials.
Alexa sighed as she hefted the laptop bag to her shoulder and turned out the lab room light. Making an effort at being a part of her coworkers’ lives was never an issue for her before because she avoided it, but now that she wanted to be included, it was a complicated endeavor. Much as she was settling in, she was also getting confused. It was like living two lives. She couldn’t tell anyone about her personal life in Holly Oaks, and yet, back home, when she was with James and Ryan, she felt like a traitor because of this life, so she avoided talking about work.
Carl met her at the door to see if she was ready to walk to the local bar they went to for a drink or two before heading home on Fridays. “Alicia grabbed me on the way over, and she said Detective Ross left a message for you to call him. Is everything all right, Lex?”
Oh, shit. She was supposed to call Ross three days ago, but she kept forgetting. He came to the house a little over a month ago when James insisted on getting the police involved to make sure everything was being done to protect her from her uncle. Of course, since he hadn’t threatened her, nothing could actually be done. She warned James and Ryan of that, but Ross promised to have a talk with Pete, and he sure must have been convincing because she hadn’t heard a word from him since. She had to give the man credit, he took his job seriously, but something about him just didn’t sit right with her. Whatever it was, she’d rather just be grateful that he’d done his job and hope to never have to deal with him again. But I promised to keep him updated, and I forgot to call. Whelp, creepy cop can wait.
“It’s fine, Carl. I just had to talk to him about something. How are your students doing on their research? Going to be done in time to start writing after Christmas?” She opened the door for him and picked up the pace. She tried her hardest to keep all topics involving her strictly on her work, previous digs or her students. It was getting tough. Especially when the occasional guy around here asked her out. Jesus. What a clusterfuck.
“Mmm-hmm. Doing just fine. I thought maybe we could talk about some of the possible article ideas at dinner this weekend. Perhaps the Tavern,” he asked.
Shit. He’s fishing. She knew he’d be harder to evade since he lived in Holly Oaks, and she was never around because she spent all her free time now with James, Ryan, and her new friends, but that glint in his eye meant he knew something. “Actually, dinner sounds great. I just can’t this weekend. I have a hike planned with some girlfriends. So…” She dragged the word out, hoping he’d get the idea they’d have to indefinitely postpone, as she had no idea when she could fit it in without inviting James and Ryan. And what possible excuse could she give them for not wanting them at a restaurant she knew they liked? Fuckity clusterfuck!
“Umm hmm. We’re talking about it, little Lex, but I’ll let you off the hook for now.”
By the time they finally took their seats on the patio outside with the rest of the crew in their department, Alexa had managed to convince herself not to hyperventilate. He knew. She had no idea how he felt about it, but for some asinine reason, she felt like a kid caught shoplifting. Like she had something that wasn’t hers to have and it’d be taken away. Either her job or her men. She wasn’t allowed to have both. It was too much of a good thing and nobody was allowed that. Especially not her.
It really didn’t make sense to her. Here she was, sitting in a cool-as-shit bar, drinking beer with supposedly enlightened individuals, in a mountain town that painted its friggin�
� streets for God’s sake. There was even a goddamn hippie playing guitar on a little stage to her right, surrounded by students in Birkenstocks. Pot was legal, love was in the air, erotica had made mainstream best-seller lists, and yet she was terrified people would find out she was in a relationship with two men. On the friggin’ flip side, she lived in a tiny town she’d never heard of before where you would think people would shoot you for jaywalking and yet no one batted an eye at what you did as long you respected your neighbor. People took care of each other. How hypocritical. It made her want to beat someone with those Birks and shout, “What’s the point of all this ‘acceptance’ if you really don’t accept anything but your idea of a tie-dyed T-shirt? You wouldn’t help a homeless man across that painted street if it meant leaving your seven-dollar beer!”
Now that she was in a thoroughly shit mood, she was taken completely by surprise when one of the more aggressive young assistant professors asked her to dance on the little platform space available for that purpose. Normally she was involved in the conversation and would have seen him coming and had an excuse at the ready. Since she was still learning her way around the social waters, she wasn’t good at evading such invitations on the fly, so she hesitated. He’d been trying to get her out on a date since the semester started, so he took advantage of her hesitation and swiftly lifted her out of her chair before she could even stutter out a, “Hey, wait.” Son of a bitch!
James and Ryan hadn’t gone much further with her than demands and some restraints, but they were getting good with the freaking demands, that was for damn sure. She loved it. And they had made it very clear that they may not own her, per say, but they did own her body. And no one was to touch her body but them. She wasn’t positive they would approve of her dancing with another man, as he was definitely touching her body. In fact, his hands were inching toward her ass very matter-of-factly.
“Actually, Brian, I’d rather you kept your hands a little more in the, um, northern region of my back,” she mumbled, not comfortable in the least at that moment, and very aware that Brian was a few beers ahead of the game.
“Come on, Lex. We’re both single.”
Not me, dickface.
“I like you, you like me.”
Not so much.
“I like dead things, you like dead things.” He started nuzzling her neck.
Alexa froze. She thought she must have misheard him. “Did you just say that,” she squeaked.
“You know what I mean, baby. We like fossils. We’d be epic together. Fire.” He actually started to grind against her frozen body, obviously not caring in the slightest that she wasn’t responding to him, or his horrific come-on lines, and then he started to slobber in her ear. It had to be the most disturbing feeling in the world. And she didn’t need a spreadsheet of “Increasing Possibly Punishable Behaviors” to know this was absolutely in the “Do not do!” column. Goddamnit!
Alexa whirled out of Brian’s grabby arms and rapidly mumbled, “I gotta go,” to anyone in her way as she grabbed her bag and scrubbed at her ear. Gross. She was going to need an entire jar of apricot body scrub to exfoliate his whole aura off her body. Then she was going to have to figure out how to explain to James and Ryan that she was “single” at work, which seemed easier to explain to her coworkers than that she was in a triad. She was not picking James or Ryan. No. So instead, she somehow managed to get herself into sleazy, dead-things-loving Brian’s arms. Worse, she was going to have to tell them that his ginormous tongue had invaded her ear. She stopped on the sidewalk just to stomp her foot at the horridness of that, because it deserved the moment, then continued on.
How did the others do this shit? Well, to be fair, James, Ryan, and Kat didn’t really have to worry about work. Maybe she should talk to Mac and Jay. What did they do? She didn’t know anyone else. Should she get online? Do research? Jesus.
If this ruined their plans for this evening she’d cry. She knew it. She was getting too stressed out and couldn’t take much more, but she really hated crying. As in super really hated it.
Chapter Twenty
Alexa let herself into the boys’ house and called out, “Hey, guys. I’m here.” She walked into the massive living room, admiring all the weird-ass wood carvings that kept popping up from day to day, was that supposed to be an elephant or a hippo? Poor Ryan would never be an artist. She heard some shuffling and swirled around to find the creator himself, and oh my. He was sporting leather pants and nothing else. She loved the way the soft, worn material clung low on his hips. And it was impossible not to notice the swagger in his step. Ryan knew he looked good, and she couldn’t wait to feel all that hot skin on her own. Just the sight of him had her breathing faster.
“I do believe that today is your first lesson in erotic pain, yes?” His voice was low and formal. If every professor spoke like this she’d never have left school. The man could make her want to sit through a class on dentures like it was her life’s obsession.
Alexa licked her suddenly dry lips. “Yes, I believe Pain for Pleasure 101 was definitely on the agenda for today.” Her hands were ice cold. She couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t a little nervous about this. Pain wasn’t exactly something she looked forward to, but she really wanted to know what the appeal was, so she would at least try it. But now they had to have “the talk” first.
“I thought we were going to have some dinner first?” Alexa made for the kitchen like the chicken she was.
Ryan’s face softened as he caught up to her and caressed her face with his knuckles. “Don’t worry, honey. We have no intention of really hurting you,” he said, completely mistaking her nervous energy for fear of the upcoming scene. “And you have your safe words. If anything we do to you starts to feel too painful or you just don’t like it, we can stop. If pain isn’t your thing, we would never make you take part in it, okay?”
Alexa tried her best to give him a reassuring smile. “I’m okay, Ryan. I really do just need a quick bite to eat. And I wanted to talk to you and James about something that happened after work today.”
Ryan’s face relaxed. He bent to give her a lip touch. “Okay, angel. I’ll get James. Can you put together some sandwiches for us?”
* * * *
James sat quietly listening as Alexa explained about her concern for her job if people found out about their relationship, and why that led her to simply saying she was single. He knew this was going to be a problem. It tore through his gut watching her now, seeing how pale her face was, looking at the little pile of ripped-up napkin that she was compulsively mutilating. He didn’t know just how stressed out she’d been about all of this. But he should have known. He should have seen it, and goddamnit, she should have told them.
It was just like their girl to prefer to deny the relationship altogether rather than choose one of them over the other, even if it was just for appearances. They were going to have to figure something out though, because he was not okay with people assuming she was available. He was definitely not okay with some guy touching her body. The rage that boiled through his body during that part of the story, even though she was rather innocent in his mind, was extreme to say the least. He knew Ryan was feeling the same. Now they had to steer her through her concern for her job and her fear at making them angry over this Brian asshole. The thought of losing her, even after only this short period of time, was unthinkable. They had to find a way to make sure she felt they could help her keep her career secure. Christ, he didn’t know if they could.
James grabbed Alexa’s hand and tugged, letting her know he wanted her on his lap. His shoulders eased when she immediately complied. “Listen, baby, we get it. We do. This is not easy for someone in your situation, so we’re going to let you handle it with as much discretion as you need. All I ask is that you tell people you’re involved or in a relationship. They don’t need to know much. You give them my name. I know I don’t give orders outside the bedroom, but since it involves our relationship, it’s an order, Lex. I’m choosing for
you so you don’t have to. It has to be one of us, and we all know it.”
It hurt to see her face fall, but he powered on, bolstered by Ryan’s presence. His supportive hand squeezed the back of James’s neck at the same time his beautiful face gave Lex an encouraging smile. “I want you to forget about this Brian thing. You didn’t intentionally do anything wrong. It would be different if you did, but we know you didn’t and you got out of there quickly. No more dancing with anyone but us, though, yeah?” James was a bit more stern with that. He knew she was shy with people, but she’d have to get over that and learn to say “no” to pushy men. He wouldn’t be so forgiving next time if she didn’t.
“Yes, James. I’m sorry. I should have stopped him sooner.” Alexa latched onto both their shoulders, her little hands like claws of desperation. “It’s only you two I want. You’re the only ones in my whole life that ever made me feel anything. Anything good, or normal. I forget to think of all the stuff I’m supposed to do when I’m around you and I get to just be me. For all these weeks, I haven’t just been getting to know you, I’ve found out who I am. I’ve found out what it’s like to feel things. And it may not seem like a long time, but when you learn so much every single day”—she paused, shaking her head—“it’s been a lifetime for me. I’ve known you for a lifetime. So I can’t lose you because of slobbery Brian.”
The single tear that escaped her eye was all he’d ever seen her shed, but it was the punctuation to the most powerful emotion he’d seen from her. She’d finally shown them they were in her heart. Thank fucking God. He was falling in love with this woman, maybe he already had. Ryan was ready for marriage and babies for Christ’s sake. But now he could finally see she was right there with them.