He dragged his thumb over her clit until she bucked and screamed again, wracked with the spasms of a harder orgasm. And he kept pumping right through them. “Again, Ariel. I want you all swollen and dripping when I get my dick into you for the first time.”
“Oh God,” she whimpered, her body on fire—clit, nipples, palms, face…
His fingers curved harder against her pubic bone, his thumb making constant firm contact with her clit, and she screeched and sobbed, trying to get away even as orgasm gripped her again.
“There we go.” He shoved his fingers deep and held them there until the contractions had waned to twitches again, then withdrew. AJ was nothing but a puddle when he rolled her onto her back, and when she pried open her eyelids enough to smile up at him, she was thrilled to see his face was hard and flushed with arousal.
The smile he gave her in return was wicked. “And now I might need a little help from my henchmen.”
Her eyes were suddenly wide open. “Henchmen?”
Chapter Four
Brent’s boner was going to kill him before this scene was over. Ariel was cute as fuck, looking around for henchmen in her post-orgasmic stupor. Apparently she hadn’t noticed when he and Joe came in.
Hake nodded at them. “Strip her and hold her down, boys.”
Ariel tipped her head back just as they each grabbed one of her arms and gasped when they yanked her fully onto the bed. She slapped at their hands when they pulled off her t-shirt and bra. “Hey, you’re supposed to rescue me!”
“What fun would that be?” Joe growled, pinning her wrist to the bed. Then he ruined the effect by leaning over to claim her upside-down mouth in a kiss—that turned unmistakably possessive when he glanced up at Hake in the middle of it.
Brent frowned. Was Joe getting cold feet about letting Hake have actual sex with Ariel?
“One victim at a time,” Hake informed her as he lifted her hobbled feet into the air and climbed onto the bed to kneel at her butt. “Joe gets to be next.”
Jerking up, Joe leveled a scowl at Hake as he sat sideways on the edge of the bed with one knee pulled up, his cheeks and ears turning red. “The hell I do.”
“See? He’s fighting me already,” Hake told Ariel with a droll look.
When Joe just rolled his eyes, Brent valiantly choked down a laugh and joined him on the edge of the large king bed, mirroring Joe’s position so he could maintain his hold on Ariel. Nobody could work Joe like Hake Stivers.
Unzipping Ariel’s boots, Hake yanked them off, along with her socks, panties and jeans, and laid her long, slender legs on either side of him before stretching out over her. The sight of his fully dressed body settling into the cradle of her naked thighs was undeniably hot, as was her moan and the anxious roll of her hips against Hake’s.
She tugged once on her arms, which Brent and Joe had pinned to the bed, and then strained to kiss Hake as he hovered over her.
“You’re supposed to be fighting this,” he breathed into her open mouth, thumbing her rosy little nipples and making her writhe.
“I don’t want to fight now,” she whimpered. “I want…” Relaxing into the mattress, she looked back and forth between Brent and Joe, a hesitant question in her arousal-darkened eyes. Brent noticed she didn’t look for Mandy’s permission—although it was pretty much a given since Hake was always the one who’d held back.
Hake raised his head and rolled onto one elbow, resting one hand on Ariel’s breastbone and caressing the dip in her collarbone with his thumb. “Are we all still in green territory?” he asked, including Mandy in his visual polling.
It was no surprise when they all wound up looking at Joe.
His eyes widened. “What?” he demanded. “Did I say anything?”
Hake watched him for a moment then crooked a finger at him, his expression serious. Joe frowned and leaned closer, obviously expecting Hake to whisper something in his ear. Instead, he captured the back of Joe’s neck and kissed him.
Brent smiled. He could almost feel the irritation draining out of Joe—and the arousal that flooded in to replace it.
Good old Hake. Brent had actually been relieved to see him today—the ready-to-run vibe he was getting from Joe lately made Brent think he was going to need some stout backup, and nobody could take the wind out of Joe’s sails quite the way Hake did.
When Joe finally broke away, he said hoarsely, “You don’t fight fair.”
“’Bout time you learned that,” Hake told him, breathing heavily himself as he popped the fly of his jeans open with one hand. He wasted no time in peeling down the front of his underwear and tucking it under his nuts before setting the head of his hard-on against Ariel’s cunt. “Don’t let go of Ariel, you two. She needs the connection.”
When he settled on both elbows and eased down between her thighs, they both groaned. Ariel rolled her hips up to meet him, and the hand curled around Brent’s wrist tightened reflexively. He squeezed her wrist in return to reassure her and used his free hand to stroke her head, turned on as hell by the way sweat and the heat of arousal made her soft yellow hair curl around his fingers.
When Hake had sunk fully into her, he rested his forehead on hers, his ribs heaving with the force of his breaths. “This has been a long time coming, hasn’t it, Ariel Jane?”
At her little nod, he pressed kisses to her cheeks, and then her eyes and the side of her nose, and then finally her lips. As he explored her mouth, he slid his hands under her shoulders and began to fuck her with easy rolls of his hips that made his loosened jeans ride lower on his ass.
They both moaned again, and another flush of arousal washed over Brent’s skin, making him press a hand to his aching cock in sympathy with Hake. He remembered exactly how exciting it had been to slide into that strong, beautiful body for the first time and he almost envied Hake this moment of discovery.
“So beautiful,” Hake groaned, nuzzling Ariel’s cheek and getting nuzzled in return.
The affectionate exchange stirred up conflicting feelings in Brent. Suddenly Hake’s claiming of his reciprocal fucking rights seemed rife with significance, and his handling of Ariel every bit as possessive as Joe’s. How that could unnerve and reassure him at the same time was a mystery.
Wondering how Mandy was handling it, he glanced over to find her curled up into the chair with her folded knees resting against one overstuffed arm, her coat still in her arms. Not surprisingly, she looked completely relaxed as she watched the couple on the bed with an expression he’d almost call beatific.
Not a word he’d used many times in his life. That Mona Lisa smile curving her lips strengthened his sense that something momentous was happening. He’d thought she was up to something when he saw her in their truck, but he’d assumed it was the gang-bang scenario. When would he learn not to assume anything, especially with these two?
Testing the waters, he did a little finger-crooking of his own and waggled his brows at her. Mandy just shook her head and smiled. “I’m watching this time.”
“You can indulge your voyeurism kink from right here.”
She shook her head again. “It’s not the same.”
Giving up for the moment, Brent returned most of his attention to the show on the bed, getting increasingly turned on as Hake’s fucking grew progressively more intense. Ariel stared up at him, her face growing flushed, her breathing labored, and Hake scooted his elbows forward to cup her skull in his hands and feast on her open mouth. Then he broke away with a gasp and started pounding her in a driving rhythm that had her wailing and scratching at Brent’s arm in seconds. As she came unglued under him, Hake got considerably more vocal himself, moaning with every panting breath and riding her so wildly his jeans crept halfway down his straining thighs.
Brent had never been into his cousin but he had to admit it was goddam hot to see him cut loose this way with Ariel.
“Jesus,” he whispered, so turned on he could hardly breathe. He flicked another glance Mandy’s way, and then Joe’s. One of them
had better be ready to fuck the minute Hake finished with Ariel or he was going to die of frustration.
The minute arrived a heartbeat later when Hake growled and then threw back his head with a shout, his eyes screwed shut in tortured pleasure as he jerked repeatedly against Ariel.
“That’s it,” Joe muttered, his face darkly flushed and hungry. Letting go of Ariel’s limp wrist, he sprang off the bed and was on Mandy in a flash, kicking the ottoman aside, scooping her up and plopping her onto edge of the mattress beside Ariel’s outstretched arms.
Mandy didn’t try to resist, nor did she do anything to help. She simply watched him with veiled eyes as he snatched the coat from her arms and tossed it on the floor, then grasped the hem of her long red sweater and pulled it off over her head, creating a staticky halo of her straight blond hair. After he’d relieved her of her bra with practiced fingers, he urged her down onto her back and crouched to pull off her ankle boots and socks.
“I hope you’re ready, Mandy-girl,” he said roughly, still crouching as he reached up to pull down her stretchy black pants, “’cause I can’t…wait to…”
Brent, whose attention had been caught by Mandy’s breasts—were they always that plump and veiny?—tore his eyes away to look at Joe, whose movements had slowed along with his words. He was frozen in place, his fists still clutching the elastic around her thighs as he stared at her.
Following the line of his gaze, Brent looked at Mandy’s flat belly…where a small bump now protruded. He blinked once and looked again, thinking he was seeing things, but the bump was still there. Either she was working on a spare tire or… “Holy fuck.”
“What?” Ariel roused from her stupor and craned her head to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
Mandy rose up onto her elbows and looked at each of them. Then her Mona Lisa smile reappeared. “Merry Christmas—we’re pregnant. And Hake is definitely not the father.”
Chapter Five
Holy fuck didn’t even begin to cover Joe’s reaction. He was struck dumb, crouching in front of a half-naked woman while the world spun off its axis and gripping her half-off pants like they were the only thing that kept him from flying into space.
“Nobody leaves this room,” Hake proclaimed. “Except you,” he added, dropping a kiss on Ariel’s open mouth. He pushed off her to stand, hiking his jeans up on the way, and then took her hand and tugged her up too. “Go on in there and clean up a little, sweetheart.”
With another kiss and a rub of her back, he nudged her toward the open door of the master bath. Still wide-eyed and blinking, she looked around as if she’d just realized she was the only one naked and disappeared into the bathroom without a word.
After the door closed behind her, Hake put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes on Mandy. “You really thought this was the right time?”
She shrugged, keeping an eye on Joe. “It was the time that presented itself. What about Ariel?”
Sighing, Hake rubbed his chin and then said, “Give her a minute and then go in there with her if she doesn’t come out. You two need to talk.”
“We do. Uh, Joe…” Mandy dropped her smiling gaze to his hands. “Want to give those a yank back up this direction and then hand me my sweater?”
Joe looked at his hands, and then at her pretty shaved pussy. And then at her bump, which had sent his hard-on into hiding for the foreseeable future. “Gladly.”
After he’d tugged her pants up, he passed her the sweater and then put the bed between them, getting as far away from her as he could without leaving the room. He stared out the window, seeing nothing but a whiteout that had gone blue-gray with the approaching evening and hearing a hundred unspoken questions he didn’t want the answers to.
Anxiety tightened his muscles, constricting his breathing and sending subtle tremors through his bones.
Hake is definitely not the father.
The statement was a like a wrecking ball inside his head, knocking down everything he’d finally begun to believe as it swung back and forth, reshaping the landscape of his life until he no longer recognized it. Reshaping his future.
“I don’t know whether to say congratulations or I’m sorry,” Brent said somewhere behind him.
“Congratulations, most definitely,” Mandy assured him. “I’m thrilled.”
Joe looked over his shoulder in time to see Brent sweep her into a hug. “Then I’m thrilled for you, sweet cheeks,” he told her, planting a kiss on her cheek.
“How in the hell can you be thrilled?” Joe demanded.
She smiled at him serenely over Brent’s shoulder. “How can I not be? A baby is a gift.”
“A gift?” He laughed humorlessly. “You call a year of sleepless nights and a lifetime of worry a gift?”
“Yes, I do,” she said promptly, untangling herself from Brent’s arms to face Joe. “There are people who’d give anything to have those problems if they came with a child of their own.”
He could feel the nails being driven into his coffin. “Mandy, you’re forty-five! Do you realize how old you’ll be—”
“Joe!” Brent barked.
“I’m well aware of what’s at stake here, Josiah,” she said over him, her voice shot through with steel, “and I don’t believe this gift is—”
“Mandy,” Hake cut in, a low warning in his voice. “See to Ariel. I’ll handle Joe.”
Giving Joe one last hard look, she went to the bathroom and tapped lightly on the door. “Ariel, I’m coming in,” she said as she turned the handle.
“What the fuck, Joe?” Brent said quietly after she’d gone in.
Hake gestured at the bedroom door. “Let’s take this somewhere else.”
Leading the way down the hall with an aggressive stride, Joe tossed over his shoulder, “What the fuck, me? What about you, Brent? You can’t tell me you’re happy about this. You either,” he added with a fierce look at Hake as he ushered him into the living room.
“I don’t know how I feel about it yet,” Brent replied, his voice even, his eyes flashing fire, “but I know you’re scared out of your fucking mind. I also know it doesn’t give you a free pass to act like an ass to Mandy.”
“Why am I the only one who’s willing to ask the hard questions?” Joe demanded. “Why is she still carrying this baby? It can’t be good for her at her age, and the chances of it having Down syndrome are—”
“Nil,” Hake said mildly. “Just have a seat and we’ll talk about the hard questions, all right?”
Joe’s stomach contracted at the idea, but he was the one who’d brought it up so he had to tough it out. He was just about to sit in one of the recliners when Brent grabbed him by the arm and steered him toward the couch. Joe could have given him hell but he already had enough conflict to deal with and the warmth of Brent’s palm felt good, so he dropped to the couch as directed. When Brent sat close enough to feel the heat radiating off him, Joe’s skin prickled. He hadn’t realized how chilled he was.
Hake chose the easy chair by the Christmas tree, which Ariel had plugged in first thing this morning. She and Brent had put up the artificial fir last night, and decorated it with strings of multicolored lights and garland and an assortment of ornaments AJ had saved from her parents’ house. Watching had stirred up too many memories for him, so Joe had left them to it and gone out to the shed to work on her present.
“You asked about Down syndrome,” Hake said, bracing his elbows on his knees. “We’ve already checked for all the common chromosomal abnormalities, and as far as the doctors can tell, the baby is perfectly normal and healthy. So is Mandy. They don’t anticipate any problems with the pregnancy.”
“Well that’s good to know,” Joe said, meaning every word of it, “but I still don’t get it. What do you and Mandy expect to happen here? Are you looking for our blessing? A promise of child support? Because if it’s money you need, I’ll write you a check right now.”
Brent rolled his eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud.”
“No, it’s ok
ay,” Hake said. “They’re valid questions and he has a right to the answers.”
Suddenly unable to take his overly civilized attitude any longer, Joe jumped up and started pacing the carpet on the other side of the oak coffee table. “Why aren’t you pissed? Your wife is having another man’s baby, for God’s sake!”
“Where do you want me to start?” Hake countered. “First off, there’s no point in getting pissed because it was an accident. You guys took the appropriate precautions and it happened anyway. That’s life. Some things are just meant to be, and apparently this baby is one of them.”
“And you’re sure it’s not yours?” Joe knew Hake never used a condom because his sperm count was low enough for Ryan’s conception to qualify as a miracle, but if one miracle could happen, so could another.
“The paternity test confirmed it’s not. If you guys want to know which of you is the father, you’ll have to take your own paternity tests.”
Fuck, and there was that word again—father. Despite all his precautions, he might very well be a father in just a few short months. Again. He might not have to be there for this one’s late-night feedings or teething or ear infections, for its tumbles down front steps or spills from bikes—or, God forbid—pickup-versus-semi accidents, but he would still be responsible for bringing another vulnerable life into this chaotic world. And he would have to live with whatever happened to it.
“The fact is,” Hake continued, “I’d love any child of Mandy’s, whether it was mine or not. It’s not like she went out and cheated on me—we were all in that room together, making love together, so it might as well be mine. Knowing that it’s the child of a man I love, no matter which of you it is, makes that baby very special to me.”
And the hits just kept coming.
Joe drew a breath with great difficulty, feeling as though a cavern was opening up in his chest while the walls closed in around him, squeezing him in between.
Brent cleared his throat and said, “You gotta know I feel the same way, Hake, and always have. I’d do anything for you and Mandy, and that baby, too. I don’t care whose it is.”
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