Graduation and Gifts (Untouchable Book 8)

by Heather Long

  The heavy weight of Ian’s cock pressing against my hip promised me he very much was up for this. “But you guys…” I managed when Ian let me have a breath. “You guys don’t…”

  “Don’t share?” Ian moved the sprayer aside and then shut off the water. It meant I lost contact with him, and then Archie tugged his fingers away and turned me around to face him.

  “We make exceptions.” Archie raised his brows. “We make plans.”

  Oh hell.

  And then Ian began running a towel over me, and between them, they dried me off and then themselves before leading me out of the bathroom.

  Plans.

  They’d made plans.

  In the bedroom, someone had turned all the covers back, and Archie tugged me over to the bed. “It’s our last day here, babe,” he said. “I meant it down there on the beach… Sometimes I want you all to myself. But you need all of us.”

  A shiver went through me as he kissed me, and then his hands were on my breasts and Ian’s were moving down my back. The massage felt good, and then he landed a smack against one ass cheek and I let out a soft gasp.

  “That’s for taking risks,” Ian chided me as he massaged the heat into my stinging skin. He landed another sharp smack to the other, and Archie bit down on my lower lip. “That’s for thinking we wouldn’t fix it.”

  One would think that was Archie talking.

  The third slap landed, and I swore I was soaking Archie’s dick where it lay nestled against my labia as he kissed a path down my neck. I had no idea when they discussed this or why it was all happening now or even if we were celebrating a special occasion, but trapped between both of them was a place I hadn’t been in months and I was thrilled to feel them.

  By the time Ian reached the fifth, my ass was on fire and Archie had one nipple so firmly locked against his teeth, I could barely hold back the long, mewling cries spilling out of my throat.

  Ian’s eyes locked with mine as he leaned over me. I stared up at him, hiding nothing, and his sudden, bright smile took my breath away. “More?” he asked, and I grinned.

  “Please, Sir Ian. Give me more.”

  His eyes flashed. “Ask the other Sir in the room.”

  Holy shit, I quaked.

  Archie looked up at me as I dropped my gaze to him. “Sir Archie?”

  “Fuck,” he swore and shifted us both, and then I was impaled on his dick. “You can have more, babe. Hold on…because you’re going to have all of us.” There was no time to brace as Ian delivered sharp slaps in rapid succession to one cheek, then the other. I was clenched so tight around Archie, his teeth ground as he held my gaze captive.

  Then we were kissing, it was all teeth and tongue and hot breaths. I was barely registering anything beyond the stroke of skin and the shudders of his body pushing up into mine when warm lubed fingers pressed against my ass.

  I was so used to this now, I swore my body went boneless.

  It took no time at all for Ian to prep me, and in between, I kissed Archie or I kissed Ian. My skin was on fire, the heat from my ass seemed to suffuse everything, and when Ian pushed into me, pinning me to Archie, I started shaking.

  I was so close. Too close.

  The feeling of both of them holding me there… I could barely hold it together when he began to move. A keening noise escaped, and I dug my fingers into Archie’s shoulder as I reached back with my free hand to grip Ian’s neck. Everywhere they touched me, I lit up, and then a harsh exhale from across the room drew my eyes, and I locked gazes with Coop, then Jake right behind him and I came apart.

  The orgasm took me like a storm, and I clenched down on Ian and Archie, pulling them with me. We collapsed together in a shuddering mass, and the tears on my cheeks were from pure overload.

  “Fuck me,” Jake said. “We’re next.”

  “Oh hell yes, players four and five are definitely in the game now.”

  Elation warred with humor, and at my giggle, everyone cracked up.

  We spent the day in bed, fucking, playing, teasing, and I came so many different ways that I lost count.

  It might have been our last day in paradise, but we made the most of it. By that night, soaking in the oversized hot tub with the guys and leaning back against Jake, with his arms around me and listening to them talk, it all lulled me into a blissful haze.

  The next morning, I was sore, and the boys indulged me by taking care of everything and insisting I rest. It wasn’t a yacht that came to fetch us though, it was a water plane.

  And we started another leg of our adventure. Ian even carried me out to climb aboard after they got the luggage loaded.

  I wasn’t going to melt, but I also wasn’t complaining. Our last look of the island was a slow circle in the air before the pilots turned us back toward the main isle. I leaned over to Archie and whispered against his ear, “Start making those investments. I’m leaning toward yes on the post-college, four-year plan.”

  His grin filled me with another level of joy.

  A private island.

  Okay, maybe that was going a bit far, but a girl could dream, right?

  Subject: HELL YES WE'RE SERIOUS

  Okay, first of all, private island retreat? A week at Disney World? Just make sure I’m invited to the wedding. Also, you need to come to one of our last shows. We’re gonna be off tour for at least a couple of years. Is it weird that I’m both excited and terrified? Also, the girls are giving me shit that I have decided you’re my bestie. Don’t disabuse me of this concept.

  Does that make me sound desperate? You know, don’t tell me if it does. I haven’t slept more than three hours in a row in weeks. I’m so tired, I think I forgot my own name. I know my parents have. Okay, pity party over.

  Pick a song, we won’t let anyone else until you two do, then tell those gorgeous boyfriends of yours to call me and tell me when you can be at a concert. We’ll make sure you’re all set up backstage with us.

  KC

  Chapter Twenty

  It’s Not Springtime in Paris

  Frankie

  “Wait…what?” The last thing I expected when we reached the private plane and boarded was the announcement of where we were going.

  “Paris,” Archie repeated, his eyes positively dancing with mischief. “Rachel is wa—”

  I leapt at him, and he caught my hug. The guys laughed at my squeal, and then he handed me off for hugs all around. “We’re going to Paris?” The whole idea was insane. We’d just spent two weeks frolicking, and now we were…

  “I told you,” Archie said as I collapsed back into the seat between him and Ian. “June is our month.”

  Reaching over me, Ian clicked my seatbelt on and then linked his hand with mine. “And we all saw your face when Rachel said she was spending a few weeks in Paris between graduation and college.”

  “I wasn’t trying to…”

  “We know,” Coop told me, turning his seat to face ours as the plane began taxiing. “All of us together changes a lot of things, but you thought about going to Paris with Rachel.”

  “I did, it would be amazing. But I wasn’t about to leave you guys behind.”

  “Newsflash, Baby Girl, you’re not leaving us behind. We’re all tagging along.” Jake winked at me.

  “That said,” Ian continued as he lifted my hand and kissed it, “you and Rachel will have girl time together to explore the city and the sights. We’d prefer it if you’d take one of us with you, but no one…” The last he said with some emphasis and stared at Jake for a beat before continuing, “No one is going to insist if you don’t. We get that you girls need your time too, and we’re perfectly capable of entertaining ourselves.”

  My cheeks ached from smiling, and I glanced over to find Archie studying me with a pleased little grin on his face, even as my ears popped from the rapidly ascending altitude of the plane.

  I mouthed ‘I love you,’ and he winked.

  Head back in the seat, I laughed.

  We were going to Paris.

&
nbsp; We played cards. We teased. We watched movies. Ian and I picked the song of Torched’s we wanted to do, and we emailed it back to the girls. As soon as we’d gotten back to Fiji, our phones had blown up with messages and social media notifications.

  I talked to Hank, checking in on him and the family. I also got to talk to Chloe. I hadn’t talked to my brothers yet, but that was all right. When I told Chloe I was on my way to Paris and asked her what she wanted, she said a funny beanie. Considering I’d wanted something similar at her age, I laughed and promised I’d find us matching ones.

  Hank wanted to know how I was doing, how the guys were, and how our vacation was going. He invited me—and the guys if they wanted to come as well—up to his place in Massachusetts before classes started in the fall. A weekend, he said, a chance to get to know the kids. If I wasn’t comfortable staying at the house—the five of us would have to share one room and it might be a bit cramped—there were also a couple of boutique hotels nearby.

  The guys didn’t look opposed, so I promised him we’d work something out. We still had to finish our move to New York, and that meant finding a place. I had my suspicions that Archie already had that covered however.

  Jake checked on his mom and sisters, as did Coop. Ian sent an email to Sara and Joe, but his parents weren’t at home. They were taking a cruise of their own, and there were messages and pictures from them that came in.

  I also had a number of notes from Rachel, each one snarkier than the last.

  Look, it’s the Eiffel Tower. Wish you were here.

  Hey, check out me at this cute little café! Wish you were here.

  French girls are hot. And bitchy. The boys are worse. Just kidding. Look who I ran into…

  The picture of Mathieu made me laugh. But all of Rachel’s snaps included similar themes. She wished I was there. Look what I was missing. See what we could be doing.

  She was such a shit.

  I couldn’t wait to see her.

  I checked in with my grandparents after we all spent way too long trying to figure out the time change. Archie finally just looked it up while laughing at us. They were fine, though my grandmother mentioned that Maddy had come to see them. All of my good humor dried up.

  “Are you all right?” Because there was just something in her voice.

  “Just fine,” Patience informed me, then lowered her voice. “Your grandfather didn’t take it well. I’m afraid it upset his heart, but he’s going to be fine.”

  “What do you—He had a heart attack?” At my question, Archie’s gaze cut sharply to me, and Coop just moved to sit on the couch next to me and my hand slid into his.

  “No,” Patience told me in too calm a voice. “Stress caused an anxiety attack. That was what the doctor told us. It mimicked a heart attack, but he’s fine. They kept him overnight for observation.”

  Guilt ate at me. “What did she want?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about,” Patience said. “You enjoy your jet-setting with that Standish boy. At least he takes after his grandfather.”

  “Grandma.” It came out exasperated. “Don’t call him that boy.” Standish or otherwise. “He has a name.”

  The quiet on the other end of the phone ate at me, but I stood my ground. This was one area my grandparents had to accept. It was all of us or none of us. Coop’s hand flexed around mine, and I gave him a grateful smile. At this distance, there was no way he could miss what she was saying.

  “You’re right,” she said after a long moment. “I’m sorry, Frankie. You’re right. That was very rude of me. I’ve just been a bit…out of sorts.”

  Fresh guilt assailed me. I’d just chastised her, and she was clearly worried about my grandfather. “We can head there,” I offered. “If Maddy is bothering you…”

  “No, dear. She made her point, and she’s gone again. She doesn’t want anything to do with us and resents that you do. But none of this is your fault. She and your grandfather argued, he knows better than to let her agitate him. As it is, we’ve been in touch with Ted, and we’ve added to our security. We might take a few weeks in the Hamptons. Get away from here. Come see us there when you’re back. You’ll be getting ready to move into the city.”

  I chewed my lip. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Now, go enjoy your vacation with Archie, Coop, Ian, and Jake.”

  I blinked.

  “Thought I hadn’t learned their names, didn’t you?” Patience actually chuckled, and I swore it was the most relaxed I’d ever heard her. “I know we seem a bit cold to you, Frankie. Perhaps guarded and aloof.”

  “I wouldn’t call it that.”

  “No, because you’re polite if direct. We love you because…you’re you, and at the same time, you look so much like Maddy and so much not.”

  I grimaced at the comparison, and it was Coop’s turn to tighten his grip on my hand.

  “That probably came out badly,” Patience continued with a sigh. “We want everything for you, Frankie, but we’re also wary of the past repeating itself. Everything with Maddy always seemed to be so much worse with Eddie. As much as we loved Ted… But, for your sake and for Ted’s, we’re going to stop holding up that mirror. If you can be patient with us a bit longer?”

  “Grandma,” I said slowly, the fact it had slipped out so easily earlier surprised me. I kind of liked testing the syllables on my tongue. “We’ll figure it out. But is he really okay?” I didn’t know my grandfather as well as my grandmother. He was every bit as aloof as she’d described. She wasn’t. Of the two of them, she’d been the one to reach out time and again, to persuade him to loosen up my trust for me, not that I’d asked. Of the pair, I thought he was the one who really didn’t want me to be like my mother and who feared it the most.

  “He is, I promise. The stubborn old goat just has to learn to listen. But do come see us in the Hamptons. It will be good for him.”

  We talked for a few more moments, and I promised to come and see them. Our cars were going to be in New York with us, even if we didn’t use them that much in the city itself.

  “Is he all right?” Coop asked, and I nodded.

  “I’ll call my grandfather,” Archie promised. “Make sure they have everything they need.”

  The corners of my mouth tilted up, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but worry. Particularly since Maddy had something to do with it. I’d managed to not think about her for the last couple of weeks. Honestly, I hadn’t missed her.

  “Thank you.”

  Ian studied me for a moment. “We’ll check on them after we land,” he said. “And if you’re really worried, we’ll cut the trip short.”

  The last thing I wanted to do…

  “Don’t start, Baby Girl,” Jake informed me. “Family first, and you’re just getting to know them. But I have a feeling Archie’s grandfather is already on it.”

  Probably. Grandpa Ted was like that.

  “Now would probably be a good time to mention that we have videos of the cats,” Coop teased. Then he held out a hand, and Jake passed him one of our laptops. Fuck, we hadn’t even looked at the laptops in days and I still had…

  Jake snorted. “Now she’s worried about school.”

  “I can fix that,” Ian teased. “Watch the videos, Angel.”

  Coop didn’t give me much choice, and of course, the moment I found Tiddles trotting with Jeremy on his morning walk around Archie’s—our house, that mental amendment would take a while—I started to smile.

  Tabby sunned herself in the solarium atop the largest indoor cat tree house I’d ever seen, but Tory took the cake. She gleamed almost pure white like she’d been groomed and sat in another cat tree in the kitchen, eating daintily out of crystal.

  The videos had little time-stamps, though someone had cut it all together to give me the last couple of weeks over the course of an hour. By the end of it, I was laughing so hard, I had tears running down my face. I thought my favorites were Jeremy reading in the garden with the cats sprawled out and
playing, or when he was having his morning tea and Tiddles sat scolding him because Jeremy refused to feed them until he’d finished his first cup.

  It helped.

  A lot.

  Coop holding my hand while I rested my head on his shoulder helped too. By the time I’d finished the video, Archie assured me his grandfather had it under control and my grandparents were being well looked after.

  My guys were the best.

  It was a long flight, including two stops—the first in Kuala Lumpur and the second in Dubai to refuel. I pressed up to the windows as we circled to land in both cities. They were stunning. A part of me was that girl still back in Texas, living in that two-bedroom apartment, desperate to get into Harvard just to get away. The rest of me… If I could only go back and tell her where we would be just a year later.

  Not only did we get away, we did it in style. I wasn’t running from anything anymore. Not if I could help it.

  By the time we were landing in Paris, I was showered, rested, and thoroughly relaxed from Ian’s admission to the mile-high club. Coop didn’t complain because he got to watch, though he called dibs on the flight home. Jake said he’d get his ticket punched at the same time, and the imagery just made me laugh.

  I had no idea what time it was. Midmorning, I thought, but the day was confusing ’cause it was like midmorning on the same day we’d left the island. Yeah. Don’t ask me, I wasn’t going to try and do that math again. Despite the food on the plane, I was starving. The guys promised we’d grab food as soon as we cleared customs.

  One perk of flying on a private plane? Customs came out to meet you.

  Or maybe it was a perk of money, but I was excited to get through and find food, but more than that, I wanted to see Rachel. Sure enough, she was waiting for us in the private lounge, phone in hand and looking all kinds of boho elegant in her black skinny jeans, white T-shirt with a black arty print on it, and a black denim jacket. Her reddish-brown hair was pulled into two long braids, and a pair of sunglasses perched on the top of her head.