Marked

by Kit Rocha

  "My partner and I are here for the season so we need to get checked in. I suspect that'll take longer than an hour. But tonight." His gaze went hooded and her nipples beaded. "We'll be there. Save us a dance."

  Hm. Two men.

  "I'll be there." She gave him the total and he paid, his fingers brushing hers as he did.

  She pointed him in the direction of the check in and he bowed and turned to leave.

  His back was nearly as nice as his front.

  On her break she bagged up two egg sandwiches and poured tea with some honey into two mugs and wandered over to Dulce's shop.

  As usual, her sister's head was down as she bent over some this or that, tinkering until she made it better.

  "Brought you some breakfast," Summer called out as she approached.

  Dulce looked to the wall full of clocks and started. Just as Summer had figured, her sister had lost track of time.

  "And some tea."

  Coffee had been a crop nearly impossible to grow in the United States for the last hundred years or so. The hotter it got the less hospitable most of the world had become. It used to be a booming crop for Indonesia and parts of Africa but the temperatures had risen so high--along with ocean levels so many island nations were either nearly gone or had faded into a whisper--that the only place still producing coffee was South America.

  But green tea had become a big crop in and around the Pacific Northwest, especially in the Cascades and the foothills where Paradise and its surroundings lay.

  "I don't know what I'd do without you." Dulce took the sandwich and the mug of tea with her thanks.

  "You'd starve and probably turn into a husk right there in that chair." Summer managed a smile, but it was true. Her sister battled with her loneliness and grief every day, burying herself so deeply in her work that she forgot important things like eating on a regular basis.

  When Summer had visited a year before and found her sister so thin and estranged from daily life, she'd gone back home, quit her job, packed up her house and moved to Paradise Village. Their parents had worried over Dulce, had urged Summer to convince her to come back to the city. But that wasn't going to happen and now that Summer had been in Paradise Lake nearly a year, she knew why.

  Portland had been a nice place to live in, but she had a life in Paradise Village. A tight knit sisterhood of friends. She worked enough to pay her bills and have some left over to play and save. She danced and fucked and slept late on her days off.

  Speaking of that... "So I met someone this morning."

  Dulce sipped her tea and then raised a brow. "Really now? Tell me."

  She described him to her sister, including their meeting the night before on the path to the lake. "I don't know, Dulce. I just looked up and he was there and all my parts started tingling and zinging. I like boys and all, but I don't usually want to jump the counter and onto their cocks two minutes after I meet one."

  "Chemistry is good."

  "He said he'd come tonight. With his partner."

  Dulce sucked in a knowing breath. "Ah. That's why you're unsure around the edges."

  "One man is hard enough to deal with. But two?" Then she realized what she'd said and wished she could unsay the words.

  Pain flashed over her sister's face for a brief moment.

  "I'm sorry. I'm a jerk."

  Dulce waved it away. "No you're not. I don't expect you to never mention it. I'm surrounded by triads all day long." She shrugged. "Two men can be trouble, I won't lie. But, it can be magic too." Dulce fell back into her memories as Summer watched her. Her sister had been in a triad for eight years. Had two young children with her men. It had been wonderful and special and then it had all gone horribly wrong and she was alone and seemed to want it to stay that way.

  "You can't walk on eggshells, Summer. It's okay. I promise. So, you gonna give it a whirl?"

  "I'll have to see what his partner is like, you know? The thing about just one man is that you can move or not based on that. What are the odds I'm going to like two of them?" Or more? She thought about her failed relationship with Jemmy. About the way his two partners in an established triad had wanted her to be their fourth.

  Dulce laughed as she brushed the crumbs off her pants and folded the bag carefully before handing it back to Summer.

  "That's part of the fun. But it's really all right if you don't want to do a triad. It's not mandatory for goodness' sake."

  No, it wasn't. She'd had a steady man at one point. Just the two of them and it had been wonderful until he'd hit the road. But with the ratio of men to women, multiples were the norm, even in the cities it had been.

  "I know what to do with one man." She shrugged one shoulder. "I love sex, it's not that. It's just...I guess I'm a little unsure."

  "Understandable. It's our world now. Women make our rules. We decide what we like and what we don't like. If you don't want a triad, don't have one. Try it out or don't. It's up to you. Plenty of men out there whatever you choose." Dulce winked.

  Summer stood. "Thanks. I'll see you later, right?"

  "The social you mean? Oh I don't think I'm up to that. But dinner, definitely."

  "I'll come by to get you at six then. Love you."

  Summer hugged her sister and went back to work.

  Charlie found Hatch in their caravan, ready to go. "I grabbed us some provisions while I was out. Picked up the packet we need to bring with us to check in too."

  He noted Hatch's hair was wet and mock frowned. "I see you found the shower center." Being on the road meant too many dips in rivers or streams--if they were lucky to find them--otherwise it was lukewarm, two-minute showers in the caravan or wipe downs with washcloths.

  "I did. Sorry I didn't wait for you though. I haven't taken a shower with you in a really long time." Hatch's voice made Charlie's cock hard. Hatch hailed from a settlement in what used to be upstate New York. His accent had remained.

  "We'll be here at least a few months. Plenty of time for that." Charlie paused, brushing a kiss over Hatch's lips and then settling in for a while. Hatch's arms went around his neck as his mouth opened, warm and welcoming.

  Charlie groaned at how good it felt and also that they didn't have time to take it anywhere.

  Hatch broke the kiss, threading his fingers through Charlie's hair for a moment before he stepped back. "It'll be nice to settle in for a while."

  It would. Each time they left a caravan camp it was harder. The road wasn't as comfortable. Being settled began to have a powerful appeal in ways it hadn't before.

  "Agreed." Charlie put the cheese in the fridge. "I met someone. She'll be at the social tonight."

  Hatch already had his cap tucked in his back pocket but he smiled as he took some bread and cheese as they headed out the door. "You work fast."

  "This one is different. I think. Strawberry blonde. Big blue eyes. Freckles. Flirts just right. Her mouth, Christ, baby, she's got a mouth on her that may be as lush as yours. It's the woman from the path last night. I didn't see all of her in the dark, but in the full morning sun she's beautiful."

  "You know I love redheads, but I have a deep weakness for those pale strawberry blondes." Hatch slid his sunglasses up his nose and it felt to Charlie like he was changing the subject. "You're antsy now, aren't you?"

  Charlie had been on the road traveling from one village and settlement after the next for the last nine years. He'd hooked up with Hatch three years before when they'd been up in Alaska on a water purification plant project.

  They'd actually met through a woman Charlie had been seeing. Two months after that meeting, the woman had gone, but he and Hatch had begun the foundations for the relationship they had now.

  "Not antsy really. I just...she's different. I don't know if I can say why. Made me think about roots and a woman to fit in that space in our life." He shrugged. Of the two, Charlie knew he was the more sentimental one.

  Hatch slung an arm around Charlie's shoulders. "Okay then. We'll see your redhead tonight and
charm her."

  Chapter Two

  The Commons, as the circle at the center of the village was called, throbbed with music and laughter. Most of the women in Paradise Village knew each other. They had a tightknit community. Even the women who didn't necessarily like one another tended to hang out together. It had become the way of things since the sickness decimated the population three centuries ago. Culture had changed and relationships had been one of the things most radically affected.

  Sisterhood wasn't just a concept anymore. It was a tangible thing that saved Summer's sanity. In a world where women were so vastly outnumbered, it meant everything to be around other people who understood what it meant to be female.

  So she stood out in the warm night under a blanket of bright stars, her hands up in the air, bouncing to the music, a smile on her face as her friends moved around her, sometimes pausing to hug her or lean close to say something.

  Occasionally, a man would approach, respectfully nearly always. He'd hold out his hand and ask her to dance and she did. She loved to dance.

  She looked back over her shoulder when one of her friends let go of her waist to move off toward the large tables of food. And that's when she saw Charlie. His gaze snagged on hers and he made his way through the crowd to her.

  He leaned in to speak in her ear. "You look pretty. I love the dress."

  And just like that, his rhythm clicked with hers as they moved their hips to the music.

  "Thank you. You look pretty good yourself. Did you get checked in all right?"

  He got closer, his arm sliding around her waist as he danced, her back to his front.

  "It took forever, but yes, we're checked in and ready to go."

  He felt really good against her. Warm and vibrant. His cock brushed against her ass and gave her an idea of what he had behind the zipper too. She definitely had no complaints.

  She looked through the crowd as they danced. All the young people had gone off to bed and the space was now adults only. Over in a far corner a man knelt between a woman's thighs, his face buried, mouth on her pussy.

  It wasn't unusual for a couple or a group to have sex in full view of others--with windows open, just off a well-traveled path, whatever--it was a way of sharing a thirst for life, especially in the villages.

  It was hot to watch sometimes. But it was really hot to watch with someone else.

  His lips brushed her ear. "Are you watching that?"

  She nodded, switching her hips to brush from side to side against his cock.

  He gave a muffled curse. "You're so fucking hot. Do you like that? Having a mouth on your pussy?"

  She went hot all over. "Yes."

  "One of my favorite things, eating pussy. Sweet, wet, slick, god I love it."

  His palm splayed against her belly and hip, his cock hard against her ass and a wave of desire hit her with such force she nearly moaned.

  How did this man get her so hot so fast?

  The woman across the way let her head fall back as the man between her legs moved his face from side to side.

  Every move Summer made brought sweet, slick friction in her pussy. Not enough to come, but certainly enough to get her hot.

  The tip of Charlie's tongue traced the edge of her ear. The hand the woman had slid into the man's hair went white at the knuckles where she tightened it.

  "She's close."

  Another man came to stand behind the woman, his hands sliding down her shoulders and then to bare her breasts. He pinched and pulled on her nipples and Summer felt the answering tug in her belly.

  The way they handled her was...it sent a shiver through Summer, through that dark part of her. She hummed her pleasure at the way the man at the woman's back moved one of his hands up into her hair, pulling her head back and dropping his own down for a kiss.

  Even across several feet of a dance floor full of people, even in the dark lit by fairy lights and torches, Summer knew when the woman came. Could tell by the arch of her back, the thrust and roll of her hips against her man's face.

  She swallowed hard but the groan came anyway.

  Charlie had to count backward from thirty to keep from coming in his damned pants. Summer's sweet body brushing against his was enough to get him rock-hard, but it was the way she so unabashedly watched the threesome across the dance floor give each other pleasure, lips parted, her nipples pressing hard against the blouse she wore that pushed him into throbbing territory.

  He spun her to face him. "I have to kiss you."

  Her eyes went half lidded, her lips parted slightly. He took that for an invitation and slid his arms around her, holding her to his body, his mouth meeting hers, tongue tracing the juicy bottom lip before tasting her more fully.

  Her skin was warm against the hands he splayed against her back, burning through the thin cotton of her dress. Her nipples pressed into his chest as she tiptoed up to kiss him more fully.

  All around them people danced, moved, laughed and loved. Charlie fell into her mouth, fell into Summer like she was a feast and he'd been starving. No one but Hatch brought out this sort of hunger in him.

  His fingers curled, as if trying to pull her closer, pull her into him. He broke away, resting his forehead against hers. "I want to talk. Take a walk with me?"

  "Is your partner going to be all right with this? With me?"

  "He should be here by now, actually. We did laundry earlier and he wanted to stop and grab the clothes before he came out." He kissed her again. "He knows about you. Wants to meet you. I wouldn't be doing this if he didn't."

  Some male partners freely fucked around with women until they found their permanent third. Some never did. Some didn't want a woman at all. He and Hatch were on the same page. When other women came along, neither of them did a thing without the other man knowing. It felt wrong to do it any other way. He loved Hatch, respected him and what they had too much to go fucking it up by being dumb. The key to a working relationship was communication and knowing the rules.

  They wanted a woman to be their third. That third would be a person they both desired and clicked with, who felt that in return. Three had enough angles to worry over without adding any unnecessary ones.

  "Will you walk with me? At least to get away from the noise so I can hear you."

  "All right."

  He took her hand and they stopped to load a plate with some food and grab a mug with some ale on their way. That's when he caught sight of Hatch and smiled.

  "There he is." Charlie guided her to a picnic table away from the noise. She put her things down, turning with a smile in Hatch's direction.

  Hatch came out of the shadows, his gaze on Charlie for long moments before he turned to the woman at his side.

  He pulled up to a stop, his mouth dropping open. "Summer?"

  "Hatch?"

  Joyous at the sight of her, he stepped close and pulled her into a hug that turned into a quick twirl as he held her, breathing her in.

  And like no time had passed, his mouth found hers in a kiss tinged with desperate happiness and longing. Her taste, god, he'd pretended he'd forgotten it but it settled right back into him, in a place that had been hers all along.

  "You're here like I dreamed you up," he murmured as he broke the kiss.

  She opened her eyes and looked right into him. At first she was soft and sweet but then her gaze narrowed and he stepped back a little, but kept a hand on her hip because he was afraid if he stopped touching her she'd disappear like smoke.

  "I take it you two know each other?"

  "Our parents are New Earthers. Summer was my first real friend. My best friend for most of my life." And then it had been more. "We became blood siblings. You know you slice your palms open and clasp hands? Which sort of sounds weird because things weren't so brother and sisterly later on. Summer was my first love."

  "And then we moved to Portland."

  "And I followed." He grinned but she wasn't smiling.

  "And you left again two years later. And here we
are, four years after that." Her voice was flat. Charlie looked back and forth between them, confused.

  "I'm so glad to see you." Hatch stepped closer to touch her face. "I've missed you a hell of a lot."

  She swallowed hard. The emotion was all over her face. She'd never had the ability to hide her feelings from him. He'd hurt her deeply and the dam he'd built around his emotions, the way he'd left and stayed away began to crumble.

  "I should go. I have to get up early in the morning for work."

  "There's a story here." Charlie cocked his head as he brushed the hair away from her face.

  "Everyone has a story or two. It was really nice dancing with you."

  "Wait. You can't just leave." Hatch slid his hand into hers, linking his fingers with hers.

  "Funny, I said the same thing four years ago." She pulled her hand back and turned, walking away.

  They both followed. Charlie gave him a look as they did. "I'll explain later." After a few stunned moments, Hatch paused, turning to Charlie. "I was in love with her for most of my life in one way or another. Do you want to pursue this?"

  Charlie smirked. "You neglected to tell me any of this?"

  "I didn't hide it. But I shoved it so far down I pretended I forgot about it because I didn't know what else to do with it. I guess in the end, right now I need to ask you the same thing about her. Do you want to pursue her? This is complicated. I have deep feelings for her. A long history." Hatch searched Charlie's face. "What we have is important to me. I'm not willing to fuck with it."

  Charlie put his hand in Hatch's, squeezing. "You know my general opinion of fate, right? What were the chances she'd be here? That I would have been so totally attracted to her from the moment I caught sight of her? This is meant to be."