Leaf, Erin M. - Appassionato (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Erin M. Leaf

  “What?” Duncan asked, his voice muffled in her hair. She couldn’t tell if he was on top of her or underneath and laughed harder. She could hear him panting.

  Oh my God, we’re a mess, she thought, shaking her head, boneless with the aftershocks of their mutual orgasm. She couldn’t move if she wanted to.

  “Honey, me, too. I couldn’t move if you paid me right now.” Jake flexed his hand against Emma’s breast then let it flop back down, spent.

  “Wait, what?” Duncan exclaimed, his body tensing. Did you say that out loud, Emma?

  “What?” Emma wrinkled her brow. She felt drunk. What was he asking her?

  “No, she didn’t say it out loud,” Jake answered, his voice cracking. Emma felt his hand clutch hers, fingers pressing hard into her palm. She tensed, trying to shake off the post-coital fog.

  “Holy shit.” Duncan breathed. Can you hear me talking to you?

  “I can hear you,” Emma said, confused. How is this possible?

  “I think it’s the bonding.” Jake shifted, sliding Emma off him and onto Duncan. He sat up, rubbing at his arm. “If we concentrate, we can hear each other.”

  Duncan rubbed Emma’s arms when she shivered. “You mean, like telepathy?” Emma said aloud.

  “Yeah. Try it again, honey,” Jake said.

  Okay. I’m thinking that this is really weird. Emma tried to send to the men. She frowned when they flinched. “Um, I take it that worked?”

  “I don’t think you need to push your thoughts at us that hard, sweetheart.” Duncan sat up, pulling Emma with him. On the other side of him, Jake frowned down at his arms.

  “What is it?” Emma asked, leaning forward to see. She could feel his apprehension and tried to send soothing vibes.

  “Look at my arms.” Jake put his arms face up on Duncan’s lap. Emma smiled as she felt a sudden spike in Duncan’s libido.

  Stop that, Jake thought, half-amused, half-irritated as Duncan’s cock began to swell.

  I can’t help it! Duncan thought back, his mind’s voice laughing.

  Emma rolled her eyes then looked more closely at the bonding tattoos on Jake’s skin. “It looks like they’ve been colored in. Here, tilt your arms a little.” She reached over and shifted his hands until the tattoos caught the light.

  Duncan gasped. “Emma, yours are the same.”

  She looked down, not surprised to see that her tattoos also had subtle colors glittering against the strong black lines. She grabbed Duncan’s left arm and dragged it up. “So are yours, Duncan.”

  What’s happening? Jake thought. Emma felt his apprehension fade as he realized that both of them had the new markings, too.

  “I think our bonding is different from the others. I remember reading about how the bondings seemed to make people able to feel each other’s emotions, but I don’t remember them saying anything about telepathy or colors. Hell, I don’t remember them saying anything about sex like that, either.” Emma sighed and sat back, brushing her hair off her face distractedly.

  “It’s strange how quickly the news reports disappeared, too,” Duncan said thoughtfully. Jake nodded, then all three of them jumped when someone banged on the door.

  “Duncan! For fuck’s sake, are you in there? Have you seen Jake?” a man called through the door. He banged again as both Jake and Duncan’s minds supplied a name for the voice—Levi.

  Shit! Duncan thought, standing up. What time is it?

  “Time to get fucking dressed.” Jake hissed, reaching for his jeans. Emma laughed out loud.

  “Why the hell are you laughing? Everyone is going to know exactly what we’ve been doing in here,” Duncan grumbled, unsuccessfully trying to pull up his leather pants.

  “I’ve never been caught necking or petting or having sex somewhere I wasn’t supposed to, ever. It’s kinda cool.” Emma smirked. She knew she should feel the same sense of urgency as the two men but couldn’t seem to get over the feeling of joy that her orgasm had mind-whammied into her. She watched Duncan tugging on the leather and shook her head. Men are helpless.

  Hey! The double-thought hit her at the same time Jake looked up from buttoning his shirt and Duncan gave up trying to pull up his pants. Levi banged again, and all three could hear the muffled cursing the guitar player wasn’t bothering to keep quiet.

  “Just a sec!” Jake yelled, grimacing at the mess on his abdomen. He was holding his shirt out, obviously not wanting to get it dirty.

  “Come on, man! Duncan’s supposed to be in the meet-and-greet right now! I know you know where he is, so tell him to get the fuck over it, whatever it is, and get the hell out here. The fans are getting antsy,” Levi yelled through the door. He gave it a last bang, then Emma heard him walk away, his boots hitting the floor with angry thuds. She looked at Jake, still standing with his shirt held out. He was adorable. She shrugged.

  Should have cleaned up before you got dressed, dude. Emma smiled and stood up, looking around the room. She spotted some water and paper towels on a side table and walked over to get them, strangely unselfconscious in her nudity. She could feel both men watching as she walked and put a little extra wiggle in her step as she grabbed the water and cracked it open. She doused a few towels and tossed them to the men. Wipe off, she thought then wet some for herself, quickly cleaning up.

  “Thanks, sweetheart,” Duncan muttered, his face flushed. Emma chuckled again. He was cute when he was flustered.

  “I kinda love you,” she said to them quietly, pulling on her own jeans and hurriedly zipping up. She felt Duncan and Jake send thoughts of love to her. She smiled as she pulled on her bra and shirt, stopping for a second to admire the swirling green-purple-blue pattern on her tattoo. She couldn’t see the colors unless she held her arms just so. It was like looking at a nearly invisible oil slick in the sunlight, or the last fading colors of a rainbow. She liked it. She deliberately pushed away the thoughts of what all of this would mean for her life and for the men’s lives. We’ll figure it out later, she thought, happy to get a wave of agreement from both men as they finished getting dressed.

  Chapter 5

  “Emma! Good morning!” Julie walked into the office on Tuesday morning, more chipper than anyone had a right to be, Emma thought as she sucked down another mouthful of coffee. She lifted her head blearily. “Whoa, are you okay?” Julie stopped at Emma’s desk.

  “No,” Emma replied, head pounding. In the back of her mind, she could hear Jake and Duncan echoing her sentiment. Since the concert on Friday, she’d been feeling increasingly worse. She knew the guys weren’t doing much better, but it wasn’t until this morning that she realized it had something to do with the bonding.

  Maybe we shouldn’t be apart like this, Jake muttered in her mind, and she shook her head, feeling a wave of nausea sweep over her. Duncan winced, and she felt him trying to soothe the three of them, unsuccessfully, as he was also suffering the effects of this miasma. It was weird having them so present in her head even though they were still hundreds of miles away. But they’re getting closer, she thought, sensing the turbulence on their airplane. It wasn’t helping any of them feel better.

  Julie slid the pile of books she was carrying down onto the desk with a thud. “Hey, you must be sick or something.” Julie reached out, putting her hand on Emma’s forehead. Her cool palm felt good. “You’re hot.”

  Emma grimaced. “I know.”

  “You should go home.” Julie sat down next to her friend. “Maybe you caught something at the concert? There were a ton of people there.”

  Emma shrugged, too tired to respond. “I don’t know. I felt fine until yesterday. Sort of.”

  “Hey, at least the concert was epic!” Julie said, smiling. “Meeting Duncan was amazing!” Emma smiled through her discomfort as Julie did a little bounce in her seat. “He was so nice! And Jake, too.” Julie smiled slyly. “And neither of them could keep their eyes off you. I even heard one of the reporters talking about it.”

  Emma sat up. “What? A reporter was talking about
us?” She felt both men suddenly pay more attention to her conversation. She closed her eyes as the room spun, but it didn’t help much as her brain suddenly zoomed in on Duncan fiddling with the window shade, trying to get it to close completely and block the sunlight. Jake was attempting to quell the vertigo he was experiencing from both the bonding and the airplane. She felt their alarm and wordless pleas for more information. She would’ve been hurt at their obvious desire to keep their relationship secret if she hadn’t also been aware of the strange suppression of any information having to do with bonding in the past week. The entire thing was frightening and suggested something more than just public disinterest. She suspected someone very influential was behind the dearth of news reports, someone who had both money and political capital.

  “Oh, I think it was someone from an internet news site. She was talking to her cameraman, and they were speculating about who you were and what your relationship was to Duncan and Jake. She thought you might be a relative, but the cameraman wasn’t convinced.” Julie giggled. “If Duncan and Jake hadn’t been undressing you with their eyes the whole time, I don’t think it would’ve been an issue. Where were you right after the encore, anyway?”

  Emma cursed in her head, feeling the men’s frustration. “I was in the bathroom, remember?”

  “I saw Jake grab you, don’t think you can wiggle out of explaining. I’m your friend. I’m not gonna say anything if you were with them.”

  Emma stared at Julie, trying to weigh what to say against her fear that something bigger was going on. Just this morning, she saw on the news that around twenty people were missing from the Philadelphia area. She suspected it had something to do with bonding but all the authorities would say was that they “were looking into the matter.” She sighed. “I told you, I had to pee. That’s all.” Emma willed Julie to believe her. Julie rolled her eyes but didn’t press her.

  “All right, whatever. I gotta go shelve these books. You should seriously consider going home, though. You look really pale.” Julie squeezed Emma’s hand and got up, gathering the books on her way out of the office. Emma pressed her palms to her forehead, willing the headache to subside. It didn’t work. She had a feeling that it was really, really bad that Jake and Duncan had to fly out to LA on a red-eye the night of the concert. They’d had five minutes for a hasty good-bye after the fan meet and greet, and then the two men were off to film a new music video. Emma went home that night feeling good, feeling hopeful. The three of them had been completely unaware that the bonding was going to flare up like this. In the back of her head, she and the men had the feeling that they shouldn’t have separated, at least not so soon. She put her head down on her desk, relishing the cool feel of the wood against her skin. She needed a moment before she dialed the front office to call in sick. The only thing that helped was the knowledge that Jake and Duncan were getting closer every minute as their plane headed for the Philadelphia airport.

  * * * *

  “I hope I can make it to baggage without barfing.” Jake closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the seat. He sensed Duncan’s sympathy from across the aisle. He wished the other man could come back over and hold his hand, but they were landing and had to wear their seat belts. Thank God they had first class seats, he thought, swallowing hard. If he’d had to squish himself into coach seating feeling like this, he knew he’d have thrown up already.

  It would look weird if I came over and cuddled you, Duncan thought. Jake smiled briefly then clutched the seat’s armrest as he felt the plane lurch again. “I can’t wait until this plane is on the ground,” he muttered.

  “It won’t be long now.” Duncan shifted in his seat then sighed.

  Jake cracked open his eyes and saw that his friend didn’t look any better than he felt. Duncan was pale, the last remnants of the eyeliner from the video shoot smudged beneath his eyes like bruises. Duncan lifted his head and met Jake’s gaze, the heat in his warm, brown eyes belying the exhaustion his body showed. “Duncan—” Jake began then stopped, not sure of what he wanted to say. He could feel Emma in his head, dimly heard her talking to her boss. He hoped to God that she was getting out of school for the day. He wanted her home when the plane landed. That’s where they were going.

  “I’m fine, Jake, just concentrate on yourself. I’m tired, but I don’t get nauseous like you do.” Duncan shifted again, looking like he wanted to stretch out his neck and back.

  “I can tell you’ve got a monster headache.”

  “Nothing I can do about it,” Duncan replied shortly. Jake sighed as the other man resolutely turned his face away and closed his eyes.

  * * * *

  An hour later, Jake was quietly cursing under his breath because he hated the entourage that had to follow them everywhere. He was grateful for the bodyguards, Charlie and Dave, because sometimes the fans were overwhelming, but he wished they could just walk through an airport without all the commotion. He stopped in front of the luggage carousel, wondering again why he didn’t hire someone to do this for them.

  “Because you thought it would keep me humble,” Duncan retorted, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

  Jake slung a look sideways, noting the slump in Duncan’s shoulders. The long video shoot meant neither man had been able to get any sleep the night before. To be honest, it was also because of the bonding. They’d had a trailer where they could rest before catching an early flight, but there were too many people around them for Jake to crawl into bed with Duncan without creating a lot of questions they weren’t yet ready to answer. Damned shame, Jake thought bitterly. I would’ve enjoyed napping with him.

  Duncan looked at him and Jake blushed, fighting back a surge of frustration. Blushing! This bonding thing was seriously fucking with his manhood. Duncan laughed and winked. Jake rolled his eyes, fussing with his leather cuffs. He wished he could take them off. They hid the bonding tattoos perfectly, but his skin itched. He wanted to uncuff the leather and rub his arms all over Emma. And Duncan. He grinned, sneaking another glance at his friend, savoring the snug fit of his jeans. Duncan has a really nice ass. Jake felt his face heat up again. He still wasn’t used to thinking about another guy like that. He imagined touching Duncan’s cock, wondering what it would feel like against his hand. The other night with Emma had blurred into a vague memory of desperation. All he could really recall was the sensation of a lot of skin against his and then coming his brains out. Jake shivered, trying to reign in his wayward thoughts. He watched Duncan shift his weight and shove a hand in one of his front pockets.

  “Behave yourself!” Duncan walked over and hissed in his ear.

  Jake grinned, feeling somewhat better with the closer proximity until a flurry of flashes from the few random fans stuck behind airport security sparked in his vision. He grimaced. The lights did nothing to help his headache.

  “Serves you right,” Duncan said. I want to throw you down and rip off your clothes, too, but I’m not torturing you thinking about it, am I?

  Jake stared at Duncan, his body going hot all over. Duncan’s words, though silent, came through loud and clear in Jake’s head. His cock swelled. Duncan stared back. Neither man realized their luggage had come until Charlie nudged Duncan.

  “Man, what is up with the two of you?” Charlie reached past Jake and snagged Duncan’s larger suitcase. “Here, make yourself useful.” He shoved the bag at Duncan, who barely caught the handle before the bag tipped over. “And you, catch your own bag.” Charlie jerked his head at Jake’s bag coming around the metal conveyor, hands already full with two more pieces of luggage.

  Jake startled out of his aroused daze, grateful that at least the nausea had subsided, though the erection now pressing against the front of his jeans was anything but comfortable. He adjusted himself, hoping no one would notice, and shouldered his bag. He very carefully avoided looking at Duncan and tried not to think about Emma. He could tell she was driving somewhere, hopefully home, and didn’t want to distract her. After everyone grabbed their luggage, the
y began the long trek through the airport to the exit where Jake had a car waiting. They both mostly ignored the fans clustered around them, smiling cursorily and waving now and then. Maybe if we’re lucky we can get out of here without Duncan having to sign anything, he thought. He felt Duncan agree.

  Neither man noticed the woman who followed them through the airport, her attention unwavering until their car pulled away from the curb.

  * * * *

  Emma paced around her living room, the nausea gone, thank God. She still felt unsettled. She could feel Duncan and Jake coming. Did they know where she lived? She shook her head. She never told them. How could they know? Except she felt them getting closer. Her skin was so sensitive she’d had to put on a loose tank top as soon as she got home from school. Even the soft fabric of her blouse had irritated the bonding tattoos. It felt weird to be home so early. She wasn’t even hungry, though she hadn’t eaten lunch. She walked to her bookshelves to scan the titles but ended up straightening the books on the shelves instead of picking one to read. She sighed and dropped her hands after a minute, giving up trying to find something to distract her brain. She wasn’t expecting the surge of electricity that suddenly shot through her body and she gasped, reaching out a hand to keep from falling, knocking a few books to the floor. It felt like a live wire had zapped her right in the chest. She let go of the shelf and stumbled to the window as she heard a car door slam shut. On her quiet street, an unfamiliar car idled beneath the large maple tree. Duncan and Jake and another man were hauling bags from the trunk. They were here! She felt her breath catch when Duncan looked up, unsmiling. Emma stepped away from the window to the front door. She unlocked the deadbolt and swung it open just as the car drove away. The two men started up her sidewalk as she opened the screen door, sliding the clip at the top to prop it open. She felt the last of her headache subside the closer they got. When the men reached the doorway, she stepped aside into her living room. They lifted their bags inside, and Jake turned to close the screen door. When he finished, Duncan quietly shut the inside door and slid the bolt.