by Maya Banks
She turned and held her hand out to Cade, wanting him close. As close as she was to Merrick. Cade pushed in until she was sandwiched between the two men. It was a comfortable, familiar place to be in. Between them. Where she felt the safest. Where she was loved.
“I love the two of you. I hope you both know that.”
Cade smiled. “Yeah, I think we do.”
She glanced up at Merrick. “Hey, what’s with kissing me in front of live television? I thought we were keeping me secret.”
Merrick went quiet a moment and glanced Cade’s way. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t thinking about it at the time. I only knew I wanted you to share in that moment with me and Cade. It wasn’t complete without you. I wanted the whole damn world to know that I love you. And…if someone, somewhere sees you and recognizes you and even tries to contact you, then we’ll deal with that when it comes up. At some point, we have to address the issue of your past. Maybe this will help us do just that.”
She leaned her head over on Cade’s shoulder while still remaining in Merrick’s arms.
“And maybe no one will come at all,” she said softly, hope for just that outcome brimming in her heart.
C H A P T E R T H I R T Y - N I N E
THE THREE STAYED IN LOS Angeles for four days after the fight. Merrick had meetings with the president of the IMMAO as well as their publicity team, not to mention countless other media for post-fight interviews, videos and a radio appearance.
Elle didn’t know how he did it. He was tired. Physically and mentally exhausted, and he was in considerable pain from the pounding he’d taken. Dallas stayed all four days, giving Merrick a thorough assessment each morning.
The fifth morning, the late nights and endless appointments had caught up with Elle, and she was sleeping soundly when Merrick slid out of bed to meet Dallas.
She stirred and automatically stuck her head up, bleary-eyed, ready to be with Merrick, but Cade slid his strong arm around her and pulled her back down next to him.
Merrick bent over the bed, smoothed her hair from her forehead and then kissed her. “Stay in bed, baby. I won’t be long. Dallas is heading home this morning, and he wanted to check in on me one more time before his flight to Denver.”
“Love you,” she murmured.
The smile split his face and wrinkled his lean jaw. “Love you too.”
She watched lazily as he dressed and then left the bedroom of the suite. Then she turned, seeking Cade’s warmth and the comfort of his body. She snuggled tightly against him and sighed in utter contentment when he wrapped his body around hers and held her close.
His cock was rigid and straining at his boxer briefs, and without thought, she let her hand wander down his body to cup the bulge between his legs.
“Watch it,” he murmured. “You have no idea how much I want to fuck you right now.”
She kissed his neck, inhaling his scent as she nestled even closer, her fingers sliding delicately over the ridge in his underwear.
“And this would be a bad thing?” she whispered. “But you know, if you’re going to, I’d suggest doing it now before Merrick gets back. He gets sort of demanding after Dallas gives him his checkups.”
Cade chuckled. “Are we too much for you, sweetheart?”
Over the last three days, since the incident in the locker room after the fight, the two men had fucked her together, separately, in as many ways, positions and locations as possible. And every morning, without exception, the minute Dallas left their room, Merrick very possessively made love to her.
For so long, the men had treated her so very gently, as though they were afraid of pushing too hard and too fast, and then when they’d finally broken the ice and consummated their physical relationship, she’d been hurt so they hadn’t made love to her for several weeks.
But now? It was as if the floodgates had been opened and they were making up for lost time. They couldn’t seem to get enough of her, and she couldn’t get enough of them.
She reveled in their possession. The tenderness with which they made love to her but also the rough edge of their possession where she could tell they were holding a tight rein on themselves because they didn’t want to hurt her.
“Never too much,” she said against his skin. “Never enough.”
“Climb on top of me,” Cade said in a husky voice. “I want you astride me.”
While she pushed away the sheets, Cade quickly divested himself of his underwear, and then she swung her leg over his muscled thighs and tentatively reached down to run her fingers over his length.
“Put it inside you.” Cade’s eyes darkened with excitement, and he reached for her hips, his fingers digging into her skin. “Take me whole, honey. Hard and deep.”
Breathless with excitement, she rose up on her knees and slid the head of his cock over her clit and through damp flesh to her opening.
He seemed so much bigger this way. He stretched her, filling her as she eased down his length. His eyes never left her face as she took more and more of him, but when she came to rest at the base of his cock, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his entire body shuddering with pleasure.
When he reopened his eyes, they were glowing with arousal. There was a dark, primitive spark there that made her shiver.
His hands left her hips and skimmed up her arms, rubbing lightly over her skin and then to her breasts where he toyed with her nipples.
“Tell me something. Have you ever imagined taking me and Merrick at the same time? Like this, you on top of me, but him behind you?”
A delicate shiver began in her legs and worked its way up her belly and into her chest until the hairs at her nape stood out.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I think about it, but I don’t know how it would be possible. You and Merrick are so…big.”
Cade chuckled. “You’re good for my ego. Yeah, we’re big and you’re small. But you were made for us, honey. And we’d be careful with you. We’d never hurt you.”
“I’d love to try,” she said honestly.
“You might get your chance sooner than you think,” Cade said wryly.
His gaze had moved beyond Elle, and Elle turned to see what he was looking at only to find Merrick standing in the doorway, his eyes hooded and hungry. His pants were already unzipped and shoved down past his hips.
“Do you want this, Elle?” Merrick asked in a strained voice. “Do you want me to take your ass while Cade’s in your pussy?”
“I trust you,” she said.
Without another word, Merrick went into the bathroom and returned a moment later with a tube of lubricant. He was also minus his pants. He dropped the tube on the bed and hastily finished undressing.
“I’m going to need to move you, honey,” Cade said. “Just stay where you are. Let me do the moving. I like you just where you are.”
With Elle atop him and his cock still buried in her body, he rotated around so he was cross-ways over the bed and his legs dangled over the edge, his feet planted on the floor. It put her at the very edge, accessible to Merrick.
“Lean forward, into me,” Cade whispered. “And relax. If at any time you want us to stop, say so.”
She nodded and leaned her body forward into Cade’s hands. He stroked her breasts, tugging gently at her nipples. He caressed every inch of her belly and chest until she squirmed restlessly around his cock.
When Merrick’s hand came down over her ass, it was instinctive to flinch. But then he kissed her on the cheek and murmured, “Relax, baby. I’m going to take my time here. I won’t hurt you.”
He fingered the opening of her ass, tracing a line around the tight ring. Then the cool glide of lubricant traveled the same path. With the blunt tip of his finger, he pushed inward, adding more lubricant to ease the passage.
Her breath skittered over her lips, and then she sharply inhaled when his finger slid deeper.
It was an utterly wicked sensation to have both openings breached. Raw hunger gripped her. She wanted this. Wanted both men
She shuddered when he eased a second finger inside her opening. Her entire body went tight, and she sat rigidly atop Cade, holding her breath so she didn’t orgasm this soon.
“Okay?” Cade asked, his eyes flashing with concern.
“Not yet,” she said from behind clenched teeth. “I’m so close. Don’t want it yet.”
Merrick kissed her shoulder and then nipped playfully at her skin. “No, not yet, baby. I need you on edge when I put my dick inside you. If you’ve already come, it’s not going to feel as good.”
He kissed a path over her shoulder and down her spine. He held his fingers still inside her, waiting for her to come down from her impending release.
“Easy,” Cade soothed.
She planted both palms over Cade’s chest, loving the hardness of the muscles and the supple feel of his skin beneath her fingers. This was hers. He was hers.
They were hers.
Merrick ran his fingers up and down the cleft of her ass, spreading the lubricant liberally around her entrance. Then she felt both hands cup her cheeks and gently spread.
She went still, and Cade automatically lifted his hands to her waist, holding her and caressing up and down her sides in a soothing pattern.
“Relax for us, honey,” Cade murmured.
It was hard to do when she was burning with anticipation. She let her breath escape raggedly and forced herself to go limp.
The tip of Merrick’s cock pressed against her opening, and it took everything she had not to jerk in reaction. Her breathing sped up, and his grip tightened on her behind.
He pressed firmly, and she began to open around him. She closed her eyes against the burn and threw her head back.
Cade caressed his way to her breasts, cupping and mounding them with his palms. He caught her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and gently squeezed, sending an electric arc bolting through her body.
A soft moan fluttered past her lips when Merrick exerted more pressure and he pushed in farther.
“Halfway there, baby. Push against me. I want all the way inside you.”
God, she wanted him to be all the way in. She wanted to know what it felt like to have two men deep inside her body.
One of Cade’s hands left her breast and trailed down her belly to where their bodies were tightly joined. Carefully he slid his hand between them and fingered her clit just as Merrick’s hips met her ass.
He was all the way in. She was stretched so tightly around both of them. She couldn’t even process the bombardment of sensation. Her body shook and spasmed as each nerve ending twitched in utter delight.
“Oh hell yeah,” Merrick breathed. “Ours, baby. If you only knew how often I’ve dreamed of having you this way. I’ll never get enough. Never.”
Cade arched his back, pushing upward, and she gasped at the fullness, the intensity of being so stretched. She was hypersensitive to every movement.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” Cade said in a strained voice. “I love the sight of you astride me, your hair down your shoulders and that drugged look on your face, the way your eyes glaze over. So fucking beautiful you make me ache. Let us have you now, honey. Trust us to give you what you need.”
“Take me,” she whispered. “I need you. I love you both so much.”
Her words incited an instant response. Their hands tightened on her body. They began to move with greater urgency, foregoing the lazy pace they’d previously set.
Merrick began to thrust, withdrawing and then plunging deeply into her ass while Cade lifted her hips and then pulled her downward to meet his upward thrusts.
The ferocity of her orgasm frightened her. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It was so powerful. So intense. Building…building…and building still. Every time she thought surely she would topple over, the tension kept rising and the pleasure intensified until she was nearly delirious.
Her body was no longer her own. It belonged to them. They commanded it. She writhed uncontrollably, her hands everywhere on Cade’s body.
She panted breathlessly and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her teeth clamped together to keep from screaming as her orgasm swelled, becoming an enormous ball of tightly leashed fury.
When she thought she couldn’t stand it a moment longer, Cade flicked his finger over her clit, and she hurtled out of control.
She had to have blacked out momentarily, because the next thing she was aware of was being sprawled over Cade, her cheek pressed tightly to his chest. She couldn’t suck in enough air to appease her burning lungs, and her entire body tingled, so sensitive that each of Merrick’s thrusts sent aftershocks racing through her abdomen.
Cade stroked her back. Up and down. Slow, loving and achingly gentle. And then Merrick growled low in his throat and thrust into her so hard that it rocked her body upward. Cade anchored her to him and held her as Merrick slowly settled down over her back, sandwiching her firmly between the two men.
A sigh of utter bliss escaped her. She was numb. She couldn’t feel parts of her body, and she couldn’t care less. She’d never been so at peace in her life.
This was her life. Her future. Her past no longer mattered. Where she belonged was here. Between these two men. Men she loved with every bit of her heart and soul.
“Love you,” she whispered. “So much.”
“Love you too, baby.”
“I adore you, honey,” Cade said as he stroked her hair. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Fuck the championship. You’re definitely the best thing that’s happened to me,” Merrick said with complete sincerity. “I could hang it all up tomorrow as long as I have you.”
Tears pricked her eyelids, and she bit her lip to prevent them from leaking down her cheeks.
She turned her mouth down to kiss Cade’s chest, and she lay there, content to remain blanketed by so much delicious male flesh.
“Want to talk to you, baby,” Merrick said, his words a little slurred.
“Mmmm,” was all she could muster.
Merrick kissed her shoulder. “How about I order some breakfast, and we’ll talk while we eat.”
After the room service cart was wheeled into the sitting area of the suite, Merrick signed the check and then pushed it the rest of the way into the bedroom.
There was something supremely decadent about having breakfast in bed with two deliciously gorgeous alpha males.
Elle sat cross-legged in the middle, her back against a pillow, while Cade reclined on his side next to her. Merrick served up the plates and then crawled up on the other side of Elle and propped his back on the headboard.
“What did you want to talk about?” Elle asked as she cut into her omelet.
Merrick paused and glanced at Cade before lowering his fork. Cade pushed up to a sitting position that put him more at eye level with Merrick and Elle.
Then Merrick cleared his throat. “You said you wanted to wait until after the fight to get married. Okay, so the fight’s over, and Cade and I would like to marry you if you’re still willing.”
Elle’s hand shook, and she had to set her fork down to keep it from falling onto the plate. She’d been so happy and…content…over the last weeks that she hadn’t given marriage any further thought. All her focus had been on Merrick and Cade and the impending fight.
“I want that more than anything,” she said, her voice trembling as hard as her fingers.
The relief in Merrick’s eyes was stark. Cade’s eyes darkened, and he slid his hand over Elle’s leg, gently squeezing her knee.
“Then I’m going to book an afternoon flight to Vegas,” Merrick said. “We’ll be there tonight. Tomorrow we’ll take you shopping for a kick-ass dress and everything you need to look and feel your best. Whatever you want, you’ll have.”
Elle smiled, her heart fluttering wildly at the tenderness—and excitement—in Merrick’s face. She reached down to put her hand over Cade’s where it rested on her knee, and she squeezed, her own excitement overtaking her.
“After we go shopping, I’ll book you into a spa where you’ll be pampered. You can have your hair and nails done, and then Cade and I will pick you up and take you to the chapel in the hotel.”
“You both spoil me so much,” Elle said.
“Get used to it,” Cade said in a gruff voice. “We plan to do a lot more of it.”
Her face flushed with happiness, she threw her arms first around Cade, squeezing him fiercely. He laughed as he caught her and returned her affectionate hug. He kissed her temple, and then she pulled away and launched herself at Merrick.
She pulled up at the last second, remembering how sore and bruised he was. But he wouldn’t let her get away with that. He hauled her up against him.
“Don’t hold back with me,” Merrick said. “I want all of you all the time. Stop worrying about hurting me. I’m fine.”
But still, she carefully wrapped her arms around his neck, and though she hugged him, she didn’t squeeze as fiercely as she’d done with Cade. Then she kissed the side of his neck and whispered next to his ear, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, baby. Always. Remember that. It’s not going away. I’m not going away.”
She sat back against the pillows and surveyed the gorgeous specimens in front of her. A feast of male flesh. Finely toned bodies. She could look her fill for hours. And touch. She loved touching them. Simply running her fingers over their skin, feeling the hardness of their muscles.
“How long do we have until the flight?” she asked.
“I haven’t booked it yet,” Merrick said. “Was going to call Cathy and have her do it.”
Cade studied her curiously. “Why do you ask?”
She grinned slyly. “Because I wanted to know if there was enough time to show you and Merrick just how much I adore you both.”
“Oh hell,” Merrick breathed. “Let me call Cathy now. I’ll make damn certain we have time for whatever it is you want to do.”
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