And then started fucking her.
He slammed into her over and over again, feeling her cervix kiss the head of his cock with every thrust. Hard, deep, fast, riding her the way his name implied, fucking her in earnest. He was picturing the scene he’d described for her, picturing every detail, and it drove him to new heights. A.J., kneeling there, ready to be fucked. Presenting his ass for Ryder’s pleasure, just waiting for Ryder to sink in deep. Or maybe waiting for Lyss and her strap-on, waiting for her pegging, waiting for her to ride him as roughly as Ryder always did. God, that would be so fucking hot, seeing Lyss fuck the other man, seeing him throw back his head and cry out with every hard smack of her hips against his ass. Fuck, he couldn’t wait, he wanted it so bad, wanted to see it so bad, he couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait…
He felt the tingle at the base of his spine mere seconds before his orgasm exploded. Ryder let loose a long, low moan as he buried himself inside her to the hilt, feeling his cock pulse against her walls, decorating her insides with his seed. It felt so good, God, it felt so good. The moment he started to come down from that high, Ryder pulled out, wrapped his free hand around his cock, and gave it three more hard, fast pulls. A few more spits of semen emerged, dotting Lyss’s gorgeous ass, marking her as his in the most primitive way possible.
Shaking, Ryder collapsed forward, resting his forehead between Lyss’s shoulder blades. They both lay there, panting.
Eventually, Ryder’s brain cleared enough for him to think again. He levered himself up and rose to his feet, helping Lyss do the same, and then collapsed back down onto the couch, this time with her in his lap. He cuddled her, wrapping both arms around her waist as he buried his face in her hair.
“Was I too rough?” he asked.
Lyss snorted. “No more than I needed you to be. Holy hell, Ryder. That was intense.”
He nodded, hiding a sigh of relief. “I’ll say.”
She was silent for a time. Then, “I want the real thing, Tex. I want A.J. here. With us.”
“Me, too, beautiful.”
Lyss heaved a sigh and palmed his chin, forcing him to look up at her. Those hazel eyes were pensive. “That said, you know we can’t force him, right? No matter how much we want it, he has to want it, too. We can’t coerce him into being with us. It has to be his choice.”
He grimaced. Couldn’t help it. “I know. I know you’re right. I think…”
She caressed his cheek when he trailed off. “Think what? Talk to me.”
Ryder pulled her even closer, idly running the pads of his fingers up and down her exposed thigh. “Back when he and I were together. That one night, in the dorm room. All these years, I kind of thought he left because he decided he didn’t really want me, you know? That he woke up and realized that yeah, it was fun for what it was, but he didn’t really…you know…want me. But now…”
“Now?” she prompted him again.
He shrugged. “Now…well, we talked. Back at his place. Just for a minute, see, but we did talk. And he said he left because he was afraid. Afraid that the rest of the world wouldn’t understand us. That it would somehow hurt me, if we stayed together.”
“And what do you think?”
He met her eyes. “I think he was afraid, yeah—but not of hurting me. I think things happened too fast for him. I mean, the both of us went four years just lusting after each other, you know? I think that, for him, finally having the fantasy come to life was just…too much.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “He’d wanted it so long, he couldn’t accept that it might actually be real.”
“Exactly. I scared him. I didn’t mean to, you already know that. But…yeah, I think I scared him. He wanted it, just as much as I did, but he never believed it would happen. And then, poof, just like that, I’m telling him it’s actually okay, that we can fuck and be in love and really be together. And then we’re in the sack, going at each other, and it’s so fucking hot. But…it was too fast. Even though it took four years to get there, it happened too fast. I mean, my God, Lyss, we were so young. So damn young. And us together…I think it was a lot more emotional than either one of us believed it would be. That on top of the fantasy coming true…”
“He got overwhelmed,” she finished for him. Lyss sighed. “I suspected that was the case, back when you told me what happened between you guys. And yes, I think you’re right. He did get scared, but not of you. He just didn’t know how to process it.”
“I don’t want that to happen this time, beautiful,” he told her, aware that his voice was cracking but not giving a shit. “I don’t want to make him scared like that again. You and I have been talking about this threesome business for a while now. We’ve seen what real triads look like, and we’ve been part of the BDSM lifestyle for a long time, too. But this will be all new to him. I don’t want to overwhelm him a second time.”
She nodded. “Agreed. Although…” Her eyes went distant.
“What?”
“At the door…before the kiss…and afterward.” She paused, licked her lips, making him want to kiss her some more. He bit his own lip to control the urge. “You said that I was his Lady.”
“You are,” he affirmed. “That goes without saying.”
She nodded again, still looking thoughtful. “Thing is, he said it, too. When you were getting changed. He said, ‘Lead on, my lady. You lead, I’ll follow.’” Hazel eyes met his amber ones. “Do you think…I mean, do you think he meant it literally? Like he meant it as an honorific, but didn’t expect me to recognize it? Could it be that he already knows something of the lifestyle?”
Ryder frowned, thinking hard. “I don’t know,” he admitted at last. “I wasn’t part of it when we were in school together. Or, at least, I hadn’t really discovered anything more than what Sidri and Tatum told me about, back in the early days. So he and I never talked about it. But, it’s been eight years. Maybe…” But he trailed off again, afraid to get his own hopes up.
That would be too damn easy. If A.J. was already in the lifestyle, already knew he was a submissive, that would make things so much easier on him and Lyss. They could move forward together, learning each other, without also having to teach him about his own nature. For though there was always a learning curve in every relationship, there were some things that were easier to deal with when all parties were familiar with the varying lifestyles that made up the acronym “BDSM.” If A.J. already knew about them, if he already knew his own nature, that would help Ryder and Lyss, too.
Not to mention it would be a dream come true.
Lyss brought him back from his mental wanderings with a light smack on his shoulder. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay? We’ll figure out a way to ask him about all that. Right now, we need to focus on making sure he knows he’s welcome—in our lives, and in our bed. One step at a time, Tex. One step at a time.”
He nodded, reluctantly, and patted her thigh. “Come on, let’s get a shower. I want to wash your hair before we tuck in. You’re still exhausted from your shift, and here I just fucked you silly on the living room floor.”
She laughed. “Not without invitation, I promise you that.” But she stood anyway, holding out a hand to help him rise, too.
Ryder wrapped an arm around her shoulders after helping her pull her jeans back up so they could walk to the bathroom. “Invitation or not, it was still pretty shitty of me to be so rough with you. So, you’re going to let me make it up to you with a long, hot shower, a scalp massage, and a rub-down with that fancy scented oil you made me buy for you. Got it?”
“I am, am I?” she said with a laugh, slipping her arm around his waist and resting her head against his shoulder.
He kissed the top of her head. “Yes, ma’am, you are. You’re going to let me take care of you tonight. And tomorrow night. And the night after that, and the night after that. Know why?”
Lyss chuckled softly, squeezing him. “Because that ring you put on my finger gives you the right to take care of me for th
e rest of my life.” She said it like a bored student reciting a much-abused lesson.
He growled, low in his throat. “Keep it up, missy. I may decide to fuck you in the shower instead of washing your hair. Then you’ll have to wait that much longer to get tucked in.”
She laughed again. “Promises, promises.” Then her voice went soft, serious, and oh, so very wistful. “Maybe someday it will be all three of us talking like this. Playing like this. Do you think A.J. ever had this kind of fun with his ex, Ryder? Do you think they ever laughed together, or teased each other? From what he said, it doesn’t sound like it. I can’t even imagine that, you know? Makes me what to wrap him up and never let him go.”
Ryder ushered her into the bathroom. “Yeah, me, too.”
She turned to face him, hazel eyes soft with concern. “Do you think…I mean, do you really think we can convince him to give us a chance? Not just for the sex, Ryder. I want him here, with us. He kept trying to take care of me tonight, but really, I want us to take care of him. He’s been through so much. Probably a lot more than he was willing to tell us about. I want to give him what he never got from that woman he married. I want to give him a home, and family, and a place where he can feel safe enough to let go for a while. Do you think he’ll let us do that? Do you think he’ll let us…love him?”
God, she was so perfect. So incredibly loving, with a heart the size of Texas. And she was serious, too. So earnest and so serious, it made his heart swell for her all over again. Fingers shaking, Ryder, cupped her face, pressing his forehead against hers, and sighed.
“Beautiful, if he doesn’t, then he’s a fool. But I don’t think that will be a problem. I saw him fall for you, right there in our living room. I saw the way he looked at you. And I saw the way he was looking at me. So, I don’t think loving us is going to be the problem. I think our biggest problem is going to be convincing him to let us love him.”
She reached up and pressed her palms against the backs of his hands. “So, we’re united in this? We both want him, and we both want him to be a permanent part of us? We want him to be ours?”
He nodded. “Yeah, beautiful. We’re united in this. A.J. will be ours.”
Chapter 12
A.J. sat at his desk, staring at a screen full of computer code, thinking, Since the definition of priapism calls for an erection lasting more than four consecutive hours, I think we should add a new term to the dictionary—trigger-dick. A dick that gets hard at the first thought of having sex with the person or persons who interest you, but will go down if you force yourself to think about rotting meat or dead puppies.
Maybe if there was a formal definition for it, he could find a solution for stopping it. Especially since his own efforts had failed miserably.
A.J. wrapped both hands behind the back of his neck, staring at the ceiling. Ryder and Lyss were trying to kill him. That was the only explanation he could think of. They wanted to torture him, drive him to new heights of desire, then snatch that desire away at the last second. Why else would they be teasing him like this?
The last few weeks had been the best of his life—at least, it was when he only considered how much fun it was to hang out with the both of them. They’d gone out together just about every night, and every night had been better than the last. If it weren’t for the simmering sexual tension, it would have been amazing.
But the tension was always there. And it just kept getting worse.
Take their second night hanging out together. The bar Lyss had suggested was indeed a hole-in-the-wall, the kind of place he’d been told Houston was famous for. There was a small stage in the center of the room, surrounded by tons dark, sequestered little booths. The three of them had chosen one in a corner, out of the way of prying eyes, and spent the evening just talking. If that was all that had happened, it would have been just like any other night out with friends.
But, all evening long, Lyss’s hand had rested on A.J.’s thigh, less than an inch from his aching dick.
Then there was the night they went to the movies. A horror flick, of course. He’d expected to sit next to them while the two of them cuddled, but instead, they’d sat on either side of him. Lyss had rested her head on his shoulder, her lilac-scented hair a serious distraction so close to his lips, and Ryder had draped his arm over the back of A.J.’s chair. All through the movie, Ryder had trailed his fingertips through the short hairs at the base of A.J.’s neck, petting him, while Ryder’s knee rested ever-so-gently against A.J.’s thigh. Between the two of them, he was ready to explode by the time the lights came back up. He’d had to pretend a cramp in his lower back to explain his reluctance to stand until the theatre cleared out.
And then there were the hours he spent with Ryder, working on the security systems for Street Smartz. Ryder had insisted on bringing A.J. to meet his captain, making a point to introduce him around the precinct so the other detectives and uniform cops would know who he was. It made A.J. go all gooey inside, whenever Ryder praised him and his company. Spending time with him at Amber’s office was even better. Just the two of them, usually, though sometimes Amber and Maddox joined them. Riley, the third member of that triad, spent most of his days running the construction company that Maddox was part of, so he was rarely around. But the four of them would spend hours talking about the systems needed for securing each shelter, and spend hours more just…talking.
Unless, of course, A.J. found himself alone with Ryder. Those days usually ended up with A.J. pinned to a wall, with Ryder kissing the living daylights out of him.
The one time he’d had the balls to mention Lyss and her potential unhappiness with the idea that her husband was kissing another man behind her back, Ryder had pulled out his phone and called her with the video feature turned on. The moment she answered, Ryder pinned him again, kissing A.J. breathless while holding the phone so that Lyss could see every moment. Her words during that event—lewd suggestions that Ryder should remove articles of A.J.’s clothing so she could see better—killed any suspicions of jealousy he might have.
And finally, there was last night. Ryder and Lyss had invited him over for dinner again, this time offering to buy Chinese instead of cooking, to which A.J. readily agreed. Except they hadn’t actually gotten around to eating. The moment he arrived, Lyss hauled him inside, told him that Ryder was stuck working late, and pushed him down on the couch. There she straddled his lap, cupped his face, and made out with him like they were both horny teenagers. By the time she chose to let him go, A.J. was a walking hard-on, so revved up he could have come with a single touch.
And yet, despite all the kissing, despite all the hot and heavy wordplay, neither one of them ever took things any further than that.
He didn’t know what to make of it. Both of them liked to touch him—a lot. Both of them would give him looks that spoke of all the naughty things they wanted to do to him—a lot. And both of them would say things, make innuendos that made it clear how much they both wanted him in their bed—again, a lot. Because of all that, he kept expecting an invitation. Something more than a sly reference to fun between the sheets. Something that let him know, for certain, that they wanted him to join them.
But the invitation never came.
Were they trying to torture him? Were they trying to make him explode? Trying to make him fantasize about them? Certainly his dreams had been filled with hundreds upon hundreds of sexual encounters, all featuring the two of them in bright Technicolor. If their goal was to make A.J. want both of them, they’d succeeded—in spades. But why wouldn’t they take the next step?
Maybe they’re waiting for you to make the suggestion, he told himself silently. Maybe they want you to make the first move. But…why? It’s their relationship. Not mine. I have no right to intrude unless they invite me. So why would they be sitting back, waiting for me to make the initial invitation? It doesn’t make sense.
But he had to figure this out. And soon. Very soon. Otherwise, his personal definition of “blue balls” would t
ake on neon intonations.
His ringtone blasted through the office, jarring him out of his thoughts so that he jumped, making his chair roll halfway across the room. Shaking his head at himself, A.J. grabbed his phone and answered without looking to see who was calling.
“IT Matters.”
“It’s Friday, fuckhead,” Austin said without preamble. “I need an answer.”
A.J. winced. “Sorry, man. I completely forgot. Something happened, and I don’t think I can…”
“For fuck’s sake,” Austin snarled. “I’m seriously ready to go over there and bash some sense into your head.”
“What the fuck, man?” A.J. said, getting really irritated. “I’m trying to tell you something.”
“Fine. What?” He sounded more angry than conciliatory.
A.J. propped his heel on the edge of his desk, staring into the middle distance as he spoke. “Do you remember me telling you about Ryder? My college roommate?”
“Of course,” Austin snorted. “How could I forget?”
“Yeah, well, I ran into him again. Him and his wife. And…I’ve kind of started hanging out with them.”
“Good for you. Now, are you going to be in the auction, or not?”
A.J. pulled the phone from his ear, frowning at it for a moment, then said, “Austin, be serious. Did you even hear me? I said…”
“Did you open the welcome packet?” Austin demanded.
He rolled his eyes. “Dude, come on. What the hell does that have to do with anything? I’m trying to tell you…this thing with Ryder and Lyss…”
“A.J., do you trust me?” Austin interrupted again.
He blinked. Blinked again. “Austin…”
“Answer the fucking question. Do. You. Trust. Me?”
He sighed. “Yes, Austin. I trust you.”
“Good,” Austin stated. “Now open the fucking welcome packet. Right now, while I’m on the phone with you. Do it, or I swear to God, I will come over there and tie you to a chair and open the fucking thing for you.”
Saints United [For Love of Authority 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 14