by Sloan Parker
I laughed as I watched them go. How the hell did I get so lucky to be a part of them, to be a part of what we all had together?
I would never—ever—take that for granted.
I knew part of the reason for the distance between the three of us lately was how busy we’d all been, but the rest of it… I blamed myself for that. They said I shouldn’t, but something had changed that night Richard said I’d lied to him about what I wanted in bed, or more precisely, what I didn’t want.
I could still hear his wounded voice when he’d said, “How can I trust that everything I’ve done to you—every time I’ve touched you—that it was something you wanted, not something you were doing for me?”
I also knew neither of them could stop picturing that moment I’d flinched from his touch.
Chapter Two
Showered and dressed, I headed downstairs. One look in the kitchen and I came to a sudden stop in the doorway, the breath catching in my throat.
Even after all this time, seeing them together, spotting any physical contact or intimacy between the two of them, left me spellbound.
Luke stood at the stove, a spatula in hand as he inspected a pancake cooking on the griddle before him. Richard was directly behind him, his arms encircling Luke’s waist, his chin resting on Luke’s shoulder. He also had his focus on that pancake on the stovetop as if there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
I knew the truth. It wasn’t the pancake that captivated Richard.
Both men were still clad in only their underwear. The entire front half of Richard’s solid, muscular body was pressed against the back of Luke’s, his groin nestled against Luke’s ass. Luke had his free arm snaked around behind them, his hand splayed across one of Richard’s ass cheeks, holding him close.
Damn, they were beautiful together, obvious passion and devotion and love passing between them as they stood there doing something as mundane as cooking.
Those same emotions washed over me, had me feeling like a part of the moment—a part of them—even from across the room.
Richard turned his head and kissed the side of Luke’s neck. In return, Luke raised his arm and laid a hand across Richard’s nape. Then they were kissing over Luke’s shoulder. A wild, frantic kiss right from the start. Their mouths open, tongues brushing in greeting again and again, the rough, unshaven skin of their chins scraping as they kept the kiss going, Richard slowly, deliberately circling his hips, grinding his body against Luke’s ass.
This wasn’t their first kiss since they’d come downstairs.
Luke ditched the spatula on the stovetop and spun around, wrapping both arms around Richard’s broad shoulders. With that move, Luke’s hip hit the handle of the griddle pan, and the entire thing went sliding off the burner and along the front edge of the stovetop. They didn’t even notice. They just continued on with that electric kiss, Richard tightening his hold on Luke, pinning him in place against the edge of the stove.
I laughed and started forward.
After rescuing the pan so it didn’t fall to the floor or burn one of them, I picked up the spatula and flipped the pancake. It was ruined, the entire surface as black as charcoal. I moved the pan aside and reached around them to click off the burner.
Beside the stove sat two platters, each with a stack of pancakes. One pile looked edible. The other not so much. It was a sloppy mess of charred and uncooked batter that we’d have to throw out.
I laughed again.
Without a moment’s hesitation, or a break in their kiss, Richard reached out for me. Wrapping a hand around the back of my neck, he tugged me to him. Only then did he tear himself from Luke’s mouth. “Come here.”
He brought our mouths together. His lips were warm and wet from the kisses with Luke. He slid his hand around to the side of my neck, then up to cup my cheek, never breaking the contact of our lips as his thumb caressed my skin.
Luke gripped me by the hips and drew me sideways so I stood between them, just how we’d been in the bathroom earlier. Only this time, Luke leaned over my shoulder and ran his lips up the side of Richard’s neck, Richard moaning into the kiss. Luke clutched my hips tighter, and Richard tugged me even closer, both of them erotically, blatantly rubbing their bodies against mine, urgency building between us.
Richard kept kissing me, drawing out each swipe of his lips, each brush of his tongue against mine. It was exquisite, beautiful.
When he pulled back, I leaned forward, my body instinctively following his. He gave me several soft, sweet kisses. Then he went right from my lips back to Luke’s, kissing him in the same drawn-out, sensual way he’d been doing with me, still cupping and stroking my cheek as he loved on Luke.
He also ended the kiss in that same tender press of his lips, one chaste kiss after another, on Luke’s lower lip, then his upper, then his lower again. He held Luke’s gaze for a moment. Then he looked to me. “Thank you.”
Luke snorted out a laugh.
I asked, “For what?”
“Not giving up on me. I know I can be a controlling ass who worries too much.”
That brought out another sputter of laughter from Luke.
I shook my head. “You’re worrying too much about how much you’re worrying.”
“Oh my God!” Luke tipped his head back. “Are you two trying to kill me here?”
That had all of us laughing.
But I wasn’t done with this conversation. I waited until Richard met my stare again. “I’m serious. You don’t have to worry so much about doing the right thing or saying the right thing. Every moment doesn’t have to be perfect. We just have to talk about stuff when there’s an issue, and everything will be fine.”
“I know. I’m working on it.”
“I am too,” I said.
Leaning in, he rested his forehead against mine and let out a long breath. I heard the relief in that exhale. “I could still spend all day kissing you.”
“Uh-huh. I want more.”
“Me too. Tonight?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Tonight.”
We held the stare for a lengthy beat. I knew what specifically we’d be doing before the weekend was up. Or at least, I hoped that was what he’d been implying. It was definitely what I’d meant.
He straightened. “We better eat before the food gets cold. It took us forever to cook the pancakes. Luke kept burning them.”
Luke’s jaw dropped. “It was hardly my fault. You kept distracting me.”
“I certainly did not.”
“Well, then your hands and mouth did, whether you wanted them to or not.”
“Are you saying I have no control? Because I thought we’ve established I try to have too much control. You’re not making a lot of sense here, Luke.” Richard grinned at him. “But you’re right.” He grasped Luke around the waist and dragged him forward in one swift move, then ground his groin against Luke’s in a blatant lust-filled motion like he’d been doing when they’d kissed earlier, only this time they were facing each other.
Richard repeated the action once more, the taut muscles of his ass clenching as he rotated his hips. Then he held still, his body tight against Luke’s. “Since the day I met you two, I’ve had no self-control when it comes to wanting you.” He gave Luke a last smoldering kiss. Then he let go of him and reached for the stack of more appetizing pancakes. “Now let’s eat, and then we’ll go over Matthew’s questions for today.” He started for the table they’d set earlier, leaving Luke standing there, panting, the bulge under his underwear impossible to miss.
I threw a pointed look at the stretched fabric. “You shouldn’t tease him.”
“Yeah.” He gulped down a hard swallow. “When the fuck will I learn that?” Choking out a laugh, he shook his head, then went for the bowl of fruit and the syrup sitting beside the stove. Before heading to the table, he paused at my side. His blue eyes held a more serious note as he whispered, “Those were some unbelievable kisses.”
I ran the tips of two fingers over my lips. “Yeah.�
�
“It was different, like it used to be.”
“It was.”
“It seems like he’s really letting it go.”
“It does.” I drew in a frustrated breath but held back on saying more.
Luke turned toward me. “What?”
“Nothing. You’re right. It was great.”
“I told you. He just needed some time.”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
He went to join Richard at the table.
It was hard to admit, even if only to myself, but despite what those kisses had been like, something was still wrong.
Something very wrong.
I just couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t make myself say it to Luke.
There’d been a noticeable difference in both of them since that day several months earlier when I hadn’t exactly been truthful about not wanting Richard to fist me in bed. Despite talking it over on several occasions, Richard admitted that moment still left him feeling uneasy when it came to intimate contact with me. He’d promised me that nothing had changed between us. That we just needed some time, that he needed time and distance from that moment.
The one good thing was that he hadn’t altogether stopped touching me. In fact, sometimes he seemed to go out of his way to reach out for me, offer a caress or a kiss. It was like he wouldn’t allow himself to put too much distance between us.
I appreciated that, but…
There was still one moment when everything about his touch—both of their touches—felt wrong: in bed.
I could see it in their eyes, feel it in the brush of their lips, the little hesitations, the clasp of their hands as if they were holding back. They were afraid they’d do something I didn’t want, afraid they’d hurt me.
I had done that to us. By letting them think I wanted something I didn’t, I’d broken a part of us that I’d come to rely on more than I realized.
Which left me aching for more of their touches, for them to grab hold of me and kiss me, touch me, fuck me with that same passionate intensity they’d had since the day I met them, like they couldn’t wait to get inside me and make us both feel so damn good.
I tried repeatedly to show them how much I wanted that—wanted them. I wasn’t sure what else I could do to fix things for us. But I knew there had to be a way, something I’d missed, something I hadn’t tried or said yet.
And I was going to find it.
Because everything was going to be okay between the three of us. More than okay. I wouldn’t accept anything else.
Chapter Three
“Here, put these gloves on. They might try to bite, even at this age.”
I took the padded gloves from Dr. Vega and slipped them on. “Where do you want me?”
“By the exam table. I’ll put the carrier right on top, and we’ll take them out one at a time and get a look at what we’ve got.”
“Okay.”
Dr. Vega set a towel-lined box on one end of the stainless-steel exam table and the carrier with his newest residents on the other side. He removed the first little guy from the crate.
The litter of red fox kits had been brought to Windtree Wildlife Rehabilitation Center a few minutes earlier by a park ranger who’d live-trapped the animals. Windtree was a nonprofit center that cared for injured and orphaned wildlife from the surrounding area, including Majestic Falls State Park, one of the largest state parks in the Midwestern US.
Located southwest of the park, the wildlife center took in over three thousand animals per year, releasing more than seventy percent back into the wilderness. The thirty percent that couldn’t be returned to their homes in the wild due to an injury or the incapacity to care for themselves became education ambassadors, helping the center’s volunteers teach the public about the importance of wildlife and conservation efforts.
With spring well underway and the local wildlife population more active after the long winter months, Windtree was currently in their busy season.
Dr. Vega—or Alex, as he’d asked me to call him—had been telling me about the center’s setup and its volunteer program when the park ranger shuffled in with the dog carrier full of mewling, squirming fox kits.
“Perfect timing,” Alex had said to me. “I like seeing anyone I’m interviewing work with the animals. That okay with you?”
“Definitely.”
“You did some hands-on workshops during your wildlife course at the school, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They had you get a rabies vaccine?”
“Yep. I’m all set there.”
“All right.” He stood. “Let’s go check out some foxes.”
With that sentence and a smile of encouragement from Alex, I couldn’t have been more excited by the chance to show him that I could handle the job. I’d spent the past couple of weeks studying as much as I could about the native animals the center typically took in, as well as basic wildlife emergency procedures. I was ready for this.
Alex flipped the first fox kit onto its back. “This one’s a female.” He righted her and inspected her legs by feeling down the length of each. “She doesn’t appear to have any swelling or broken bones. No signs of trauma. Here. Feel the belly.” He handed her to me. “What do you think?”
“She’s too thin.”
“Right. And feel along her spine. She’s not been eating enough lately.” He reached over and pinched the skin on her back. It stuck together for a second or two before slowly lowering to her body.
“She’s dehydrated,” I said.
“Yeah. They’ve definitely been on their own for too long. It’s possible that fox the ranger said he found dead along the road the other day was their mother.”
“She was hit by a car?”
“He thought so. It was clear she’d been nursing, so he went back today to see if he could spot the den or maybe hear these little guys.”
“Any sign of the father? Sometimes they’ll care for the kits if the mother dies.”
“That’s right.” He sounded impressed. “If they’re far enough along on solid foods. I’m guessing his instincts told him these guys weren’t, though.” He had me turn the kit his way. He checked her face and ears. “She appears to be five or six weeks old. You know how I can tell that?”
He hadn’t examined the kit’s teeth yet, so I said, “Well, her eyes and ears are open, and the muzzle is beginning to lengthen. And the fur color is starting to change.”
“Right. Anything else?”
“The eye color.”
“Exactly. They start out blue and turn golden-brown as they age.” He retrieved the kit from me and took a look inside her mouth. “You can also tell by the eruption of her teeth.” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m guessing about five weeks, maybe slightly older.” He set the kit into the box and pulled another one out of the carrier. This one was squirming more as he started the exam. “We’ve got another female.”
He passed her to me. She was snorting and growling, trying to bite my thumb, but the gloves were specially lined. Her teeth couldn’t puncture them. “She sure is a feisty little thing.”
He laughed. “Yeah. She looks as thin as the other, but she’s got some serious fight left in her. That’s a good sign.”
“Will they be okay?”
“Should be. They don’t seem too bad off. They’re bright and alert and responsive. No sign of a respiratory infection. I think we got them soon enough. We’ll give them subcutaneous fluids today and start bottle-feeding them, then see how far along they are in eating solids. They should bounce back pretty quickly.”
“Will you be able to release them at some point?”
“That’ll be the plan. We’ll keep them until they’re older and have been on solid food for quite a while. It’s good that there’s several of them. Makes it less likely that they’ll imprint on us. We’ll limit human contact as much as we can as they grow. Then after they’re big enough, and we’ve made certain they can catch their own food, we’ll release them back into the wil
d. Do you know how we can tell a red fox from a coyote or a gray fox? They all look pretty similar before the adult color of the coat starts coming in.”
“The tail,” I said. “Red foxes have the white tip.”
Alex nodded, looking pleased.
Before he moved to put her in the box with the other kit, I patted the top of her head. “It’ll be okay, little one.”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” Alex smiled at me. Every time he did that, his eyes lit up with genuine delight. He had a thoughtful gentleness to him that seemed to have many of the animals at Windtree at ease around him.
When we finished the intake exam on the kits, Alex got them situated with a volunteer who started them on fluids, and we moved on to another room lined with plastic crates and covered clothes hampers. “This is our recovery room for birds and owls.” He introduced me to the various feathered residents at the center and asked me to help him do some physical therapy on one of his patients.
We worked together for another half hour. Then he finished giving me a full tour of the place, including the outdoor pens and enclosures where they kept the larger animals and the ones closer to release. Windtree currently housed two older foxes, several opossums, squirrels, minks, ducks, a red-tailed hawk, a pair of mourning doves, and even a bald eagle, among many others.
When another volunteer arrived for their shift, Alex suggested I get a better look around on my own while he discussed a case with the volunteer.
After walking through the treatment rooms, surgical area, and the interior kennels, I exited into the front offices. We’d been talking there at his desk before the ranger arrived. Similar to many of the other areas inside the facility, the walls were lined with stacked cages that housed all types of injured and recovering wildlife. As Alex had mentioned earlier, the center was in desperate need of an expansion, as well as updated office equipment.
It was clear from the way Alex had talked that the center didn’t have the necessary money to do the expansion or to purchase the upgraded computers. He said the majority of their funds were spent on medical equipment and related supplies for animal care, as well as the salaries for the staff who were responsible for running the clinic.