by Bea Paige
Bryce raises his eyebrows, smirking. “This is not fifty-two card pick up, I’m not falling for that again.” With that he gets up and heads into the kitchen. “I fancy a beer, anyone else want a drink?”
Max starts to put the game away. I help him.
“A beer for me too, Bryce” Max responds.
“I’ll have a glass of red. Louisa, would you like something?” Hudson asks me.
I don’t normally drink. For obvious reasons, Mum has put me off alcohol, but it is Christmas and one wouldn’t hurt. “Sure, a glass of red wine would be lovely,” I say. I haven’t actually drunk red wine much, but before Richard realised just quite how bad my mum’s alcoholism was, red wine had been their drink of choice. Somehow it reminds me of him, and happier times. Back then, she had almost beaten her addiction.
“Coming up,” Bryce says. “Hey, Max, give us a hand with some nibbles. I’m already hungry again.”
“Sure,” Max says, getting up, leaving Hudson and me to tidy up the board games.
Behind us Max and Bryce discuss what they are going to serve up, leaving me alone with Hudson. I’m not particularly hungry, full still from the huge Christmas dinner I consumed earlier. But these guys are always eating. I have no idea why they aren’t overweight beasts but then, given their physiques, they aren’t exactly strangers to exercise.
“Louisa,” Hudson says, placing his hand on top of my own.
“Hmm?”
“Earlier, when Bryce said what he did…”
I sit back on my haunches, pulling my hand out from underneath his. “You don’t have to explain anything. I’m fine, honestly,” I say. He really has no need to justify his way of life to me. I have no claim over him.
Hudson ignores me. Apparently, sharing his thoughts is his aim, and he isn’t about to stop.
“He wasn’t lying. That’s exactly how I led my life. Working hard, then fucking. Pretty much that, repeatedly. It prevented me from really considering stuff.”
“Stuff?” I search his face and wait.
Hudson sighs. “Why I am the way I am. I mean, I know why, I just never wanted to figure it all out before. To heal, is what I’m trying to say. I was happy with my life. Work kept me busy and fucking kept my past at bay. It temporarily filled a hole.”
“And you aren’t happy now?” I ask, frowning.
He bites at his fingernail. “No, I mean, yes, I am. I’m proud of the business I’ve built, we’ve built. I love my brothers even when they act like dicks most of the time,” he says, glancing at them, a smile pulling at his lips.
“But?”
“Something is changing. I have no fucking clue whether it is a good or a bad thing, but I want to try and figure my shit out once and for all. When I get home, I’ll be hooking up with my shrink again. I want to be a better version of myself. It’s about fucking time, to be honest.”
“I’m happy for you,” I say, and I am. To talk about healing is one thing, but to actively seek it out despite the pain he will inevitably go through, is quite another. I place the board back in the box and slip on the lid. I move to stand but Hudson stops me, placing his hand on my arm.
“I’m sorry if what you heard earlier upset you. You are part of the reason I want to change, Louisa.” He says it so softly that I’m not quite certain I heard him correctly, but I don’t get a chance to ask him to repeat himself as Bryce and Max join us once again.
Hudson lets go of my arm and grabs the bottle of red wine from Max, pouring us both a glass. I take the one he offers me.
“Thanks.”
He nods his head and takes a sip, peering at me over the rim of his glass. He’s looking at me strangely, like I am an oddity he doesn’t quite know how to figure out. I turn away from his gaze, uncertain how to react under his scrutiny.
“You two alright?” Max asks, noticing the strange look Hudson is giving me.
“Never better,” Hudson says, taking a seat on the sofa.
Bryce places a selection of cheese and biscuits on the table, a plate full of sliced meat, and a bunch of grapes. Max adds plates and cutlery.
“Figured we could just eat this here,” he says with a shrug. “Help yourself.”
Max sits on the floor by the table and loads his plate with food. Bryce sits on the other side of me.
“What would you like?” Bryce asks, taking a plate.
“Honestly, I’m not that hungry. I’m stuffed from earlier.”
Bryce slices a slither of cheese and lifts it to my mouth. “Just try this. It’s delicious,” he says, his eyes focusing on my lips. I open my mouth and take a bite. It’s stronger than I usually like, but it is delicious.
“Good?” he asks.
“It’s lovely,” I say, following the mouthful with a sip of wine.
Hudson slides to the floor next to me and pulls a grape from the bunch. He places it between his teeth then leans forward. The action makes me giggle nervously.
Fuck it, what does it matter. If Hudson wants to feed me grapes from his own mouth, then who am I to deny him? Leaning over, I bite down on the proffered grape, breaking it in half. Hudson pulls back, chewing his half whilst I do the same. A little bit of grape juice slides down my chin. Hudson wipes at it with his finger. Then he leans in and presses his lips against mine. My mouth parts as his tongue slips inside. He tastes sweet, but his kiss is far from it. Hungry, comes to mind.
When he pulls back a grin spreads across his face, just as a grape comes flying towards him. He isn’t quick enough to react and it bounces off his forehead.
“Why, you little…”
“Bloody hell, Hud. Smooth operator or what?” Max laughs, taking the piss. The grape missile clearly came from him.
Hudson shrugs. “Bryce started it.” He looks at me. “I didn’t want to miss out.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure Louisa is capable of feeding herself,” Max retorts with a grin.
“I liked it,” I say, my own embarrassment making my face flush with heat.
Max turns to me, the smile slipping. In its place, heat sparks in his eyes. “Is that so?”
I don’t have time to answer before he jumps up and heads into the kitchen. I watch as he starts pulling items from the fridge: a punnet of red berries, some chocolate mousse, cream, then from the cupboard he pulls a jar of honey and a bar of dark chocolate. He gathers all the items and heads back over to us, placing them all on the table with a wink. Neither Bryce or Hudson say a word as he runs out of the room. A moment later he is back with a piece of black, silk material that looks suspiciously like a blindfold. He runs it over his palm.
“Wanna play?” he asks.
I look at all the items on the table. Then my gaze lifts to Max’s expectant one.
What the hell.
“Who’s first?” I ask, biting on my lip.
Chapter Nineteen
“Well, darling, you of course,” Bryce says, holding his hand out for the blindfold.
Max drops it into his hand and Bryce scoots in closer to me. I turn my back to him, so he can place the blindfold over my eyes. He is exceedingly gentle as he ties it around my face. Once he has done so, I feel a featherlight kiss press against the curve of my neck. I startle at the sensation, my other senses heightened now I’ve lost my ability to see. Bryce chuckles.
“It might be easier if you sat back on the sofa,” he says. I reach my hands down and scoot back, settling into the soft cushions. My heart is already pounding in my chest with the anticipation of what is about to happen next. I hear a jar being opened and the rush of air as someone sits down on the other side of me.
“Open your mouth, Icy.” It’s Max. His voice is low, seductive and despite the fact he is using my nickname, there is no humour.
I open my mouth and wait, feeling a little uncomfortable at what I must look like. A gentle hand rests against my cheek as a cold spoon slips past my lips. I close my mouth around it. The sweet taste of honey explodes across my tongue as Max pulls the spoon from my mouth. I swallow, runnin
g my tongue over my now parted lips, lapping at the sweet taste. Max’s hand slides down my face. The pad of his finger pulls at my bottom lip. I hear him groan as I open my mouth, allowing him access. Closing my mouth over his finger, I suck hard.
“Damn it, Louisa,” I hear him say as he shifts closer to me on the sofa. He pulls his finger free, replacing it with his mouth. “That sweet mouth of yours…” he starts, before sliding his lips over mine. He kisses me hungrily, both hands cupping my face. When he pulls away I am left breathless and wanting. Wanting more of him.
“My turn,” Bryce growls. The nuances of his voice have become familiar now, my man-mountain is turned on. So am I. Max moves back as I turn my head towards Bryce. He leans over me and I can feel something firm press against my mouth. It smells like a strawberry. He runs it across my lips before sliding it in. I take a bite, a little of the juice runs free. Bryce give me a moment to swallow then he leans down and licks, actually licks, across my lips. I never thought such an action would turn me on so much, but it does.
“Bryce,” I whisper when he pulls back. If I sound needy, it’s because I am. I want him to kiss me.
He does.
My hands pull on the back of his head, urging him closer. Bryce obliges, going one step further. I feel one arm slide under the back of my knees as his other snakes around my back. He lifts me into his arms and for a long time there is just us as everything else dissolves. Bryce’s kiss becomes more heated, urgent, and his hands begin to stray further, moving up my thigh and under my top until they rest against my stomach.
“Bryce,” Hudson says. I can barely hear him over the rushing and pulsing in my ears. “Bryce,” he repeats. Bryce pulls away, a low chuckle erupting from his chest. “Sorry, Hud. Louisa is…”
“I know, brother, I know,” Hudson says.
It is entirely strange to hear them talking about me and not see the expressions on their faces. I feel utterly desired. I am a hot mess in his arms. Bryce presses a kiss against my lips then slides me off his lap and into the arms of Hudson.
“Hello, beautiful,” he says, before crashing his lips against mine. I’m not sure what changes in that moment as we kiss, but suddenly I am being lifted from the sofa and carried elsewhere. A moment later I am sitting on something cold and firm. It feels suspiciously like the kitchen table.
“I want to touch you, taste you, not feed you,” Hudson laughs, encouraging me to lie down.
I lift my hands up in an attempt to slip the blindfold from my eyes, but Hudson captures my wrists in his hands.
“No, you should leave it on.”
I don’t resist.
“Lie back, Louisa.”
A hand rests on the back of my head and eases me down so that I am lying flat. “There we are, darling,” Bryce says. His lips graze across my forehead, before he pulls away.
Warm hands undo my jeans, then roll them down over my hips, pulling my knickers free too, until I am bare from the waist down. Another set of hands, Hudson’s I believe, push my top upwards revealing my lace bra. I lift my arms as he eases it over my head, ensuring the blindfold remains in place. Another set of fingers slide under my back, unhooking my bra. My nipples pebble at the sudden cold.
I hear movement around me, then jump as something cool and wet pours over my stomach, pooling in my belly button. A hot mouth follows the cold as lips move across my skin. A tongue laps at the liquid.
“Hmm, delicious,” Max says, pulling back.
The sensations that follow are intense.
Gentle hands slide across my body, soft lips graze across every inch of my skin. Tongues lap, teeth scrape, and moans fill the air. I’m not sure how long I lie there naked and open to the brothers Freed. Time ceases to exist as I allow the sensations to take over. All thoughts of my past, my mum, my self-doubt, it all dissolves under their attention. Nothing enters my head apart from the way they are making me feel. This is all about them worshipping me. Every touch, every kiss heightens the pleasure I feel. It’s so overwhelming that I feel tears slip from my eyes. Their hands and mouths fall away.
“Louisa…” Max says gently, wiping at my tears.
I can’t explain to them that these tears are not because I am sad, they are because I feel adored. In a moment of clarity, I understand the Freed brothers and their addiction to women and sex. This is the closest I have ever felt to being loved and I don’t want it to end. Isn’t this what we are all searching for?
“We can stop,” Hudson whispers.
“No!” I say, almost panicked. “Don’t stop, don’t ever stop…” I pull him in for a kiss. I’m surprised at my own desperation. It frightens me.
“Sweetheart, as long as you want us, we’ll stay,” he says against my mouth.
So, they don’t stop.
They set me on fire. They play me like an instrument, each of them an expert at conducting my body. The brothers Freed take their time worshipping me with their hands and their lips. They get to know my body, what I like, what I love, what tips me over the edge, what keeps me hovering on the precipice, and through it all I realise one important thing: that in this moment I am theirs as much as they are mine.
Epilogue
For two days straight, I lost myself to the Freed brothers. To their hands, to their mouths, to their lust for me. I couldn’t tell you if it was love. At times it felt like it. Felt close to something beautiful, something everlasting. Max kept me laughing, Bryce held me when I cried for the mother I never had, and Hudson listened when I talked about the loneliness of a life spent in a house filled with hateful men and a broken woman. It was magical, it was blissful, and then, it was over.
Once the snowstorm had finally cleared, and the roads were made passable, we made our way back down to the resort. Whether it was because, somehow, we knew another storm was brewing or whether it was because those blissful days were just a fantasy we couldn’t hold on to, something changed when we pulled up outside the chalet. Reality crept back in and settled amongst the cracks we had only just begun to heal.
All it had taken was one phone call. A phone call that led to me packing my bags and leaving the Freed brothers in the middle of the night, too afraid to say goodbye.
Now, as I sit here by my mother’s lifeless body, crying over a woman who broke my heart, my thoughts return to the three men who, for a brief moment in time, made me feel like I was loved, and I find myself wondering whether the brothers Freed are thinking of me at all.
To be continued…
Brother’s Freed Book 2
Storm of Seduction – book two of the Brothers Freed series is available to order now: https://books2read.com/StormSeduction
Author’s Note
Avalanche of Desire is my first foray into contemporary romance. My usual bag is paranormal romance and fantasy, and I cut my teeth on those kinds of books. This book first appeared in the Snow & Seduction anthology. When I started writing the story I had no intention of making it into a series, but like all my characters, Max, Bryce, Hudson and Louisa somehow worked their way under my skin and I realised I couldn’t end their story there. So, here we are with two more follow up books coming out. Next up will be Storm of Seduction, followed by Dawn of Love, the last book in the trilogy. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!
A special thanks to Carol Wells, my good friend. She can be thanked for naming all three books in this trilogy! Love ya!
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Bea Paige, Avalanche of Desire_A contemporary reverse harem romance