by Lily Harlem
“Hey,” Quinn said, reaching for me. “Ariane.”
“No.” I shrugged him off and sidestepped.
But it was no good. He was too strong and too quick. He scooped me against his chest and bent his head to my ear. “Ariane,” he said again, curling his arms around me in a vise-like grip. “It’s okay, really.”
“I have to go.” I twisted my neck away from where Liam stood. My heart was threatening to burst right out of my chest. He would think I was a tart, a whore, a slut. I’d been giving off serious signals of interest to him only hours ago and now he’d come out of his office to discover me sprawled wantonly over his breakfast counter being hand-fucked by his flatmate. “I can’t stay, not now, please, let me go. I have to go.”
I pushed against Quinn with all my strength and shoved backward, but something caught me. Not something, someone. Liam. Suddenly I was trapped between two rock-hard chests and surrounded by four determined arms.
“Don’t go,” Liam said into my ear. “I’m not mad at you.” He spoke with such softness that instantly my eyes filled with emotion. “I want you to stay.”
“We want you to stay,” Quinn added.
I felt a drip of shame spill over my lower lid.
“Why are you sad?” Quinn asked, tipping my chin. “I thought I just made you fly.”
“You did, but…” I dropped my head into the palms of my hands. “But I’m so embarrassed, you’ve been so kind, so helpful and you don’t even know me, somewhere to stay, clothes, food.” A juddering sob broke free. “And I’ve repaid you by behaving like a whore.”
Liam sucked in a breath behind me. “Don’t you ever say that about yourself again, Ariane.” He spun me to face him instead of Quinn. “I won’t stand for it and neither will Quinn.”
“Absolutely not,” Quinn confirmed. “What you just did made us both very happy and we won’t have you corrupting it.”
My mind was reeling. What on earth were they on about? I had just made them ”both” very happy with my terrible display of sluttiness? “I behave like a loose-moraled tart and that makes you happy?” I asked, stunned, taking my hands from my shame-stained cheeks.
“If you say that again, or anything like that,” Quinn said in a decidedly dangerous growl by my ear, “I will put you over my knee and spank that sexy little ass of yours, Ariane.”
My mouth dropped open in shock as my body trembled at the kinky suggestion.
Liam took full advantage of my open mouth and suddenly he was kissing me, gently and slowly but with a harnessed passion that had me opening for more in spite of my confusing predicament. He cranked up the heat, our teeth touched briefly and then he delved his tongue into my mouth and began devouring me like a starving man. He tasted different to Quinn’s dark, chocolate heat. He was lighter, fresher, like he’d not long since brushed his teeth. But he was equally delicious, equally sexy, equally hot.
Quinn brushed my hair to one side and began to rain kisses onto the supersensitive part of my neck, just below my ear. I groaned in appreciation and curled my fingers into Liam’s t-shirt to hang on. Two pairs of hands began to roam my body, dipping into my waist, smoothing over my butt and thighs, reaching for my breasts.
Quinn’s erection prodded at the small of my back at the same time Liam’s hit my stomach.
I snapped my mouth away. What was I doing? What the hell was going on? My sudden movement caught them both off guard and I was able to slip free.
“No,” I said, retreating at speed. “I don’t know what’s going on here but no…how can you both…?”
“Shh, it’s okay,” Liam said, taking a step toward me.
I backed away, throwing up my hands defensively. “No…” I said breathlessly. “I have to go.”
“But where?” Quinn said, shaking his head. “You can’t go back.”
“I don’t know,” I said, aware my voice sounded shaky.
A sudden manic beeping filled the kitchen. Loud and insistent it echoed like the shrill ring of a phone in an empty hall. “Shit,” Quinn muttered. “Worst timing ever.” He reached down to his pocket.
Liam raised his eyebrows at him. “Isn’t it always?”
“What, what’s that?” I asked as I pushed a damp strand of hair from my face.
“My pager,” Quinn said, narrowing his eyes at the small flashing screen. “I have to go.” He walked toward me. I backtracked and hit the kitchen wall. “Liam will deal with you,” he said through tight lips. “Anything he says goes for me too.” He looked across at Liam who’d folded his arms and tipped his head.
“I feel the same way he does,” Quinn said.
“But…”
“Don’t stop this,” Quinn interrupted. “Don’t stop this before it’s even begun, Ariane, please… I beg you.”
And then he was gone. His expensive leather shoes tapped over the wooden floor of the living room and then the front door slammed with a thud.
I wrung my hands together and rested my back against the wall. What had just happened? I’d kissed Liam with the same enthusiasm I had Quinn only moments before. How could I have generated so much passion inside my soul for one man and within seconds convert it to another? I’d always been faithful, I’d never cheated on Geraint, never even been tempted. Yet here I was getting mashed between two very aroused men and, I had to admit, enjoying it immensely. Thank goodness I’d come to my senses and stopped before anything else had happened.
“Ariane,” Liam said quietly, “you’re thinking about this way too much.”
I touched my fingertips to my lips, still tingling from where he’d just kissed me into oblivion. “What do you mean ‘this’?” I managed.
“Us, me and Quinn.” He paused. “And you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What’s not to understand?” He stepped closer. “I like you, Quinn’s clearly into you, and from what I just saw and felt—you, Ariane, are into both of us.”
There, he’d said it, the disastrous truth. I was into both of them. How could I not be? Both were devastatingly gorgeous and both had an air of irresistible sex appeal. It was a different nature of sexiness—whilst Liam’s felt gentle, seductive, beautiful and to a certain extent nurturing, there was something about Quinn that felt fast and furious, perhaps even dangerous. There was an element of bad boy unpredictability about him. How could a girl choose?
There was only one option—I would have to leave and not have either of them.
“I have to go,” I said again. “Really, I’m sorry, I can’t stay.”
“No.” Liam frowned, creating a neat horizontal line between his brows. “Leave in the morning if you want, but not in the dark, and…” He had a distinctly sharper edge to his tone. “Leave because you don’t want us, not because you do.” He stepped right up to me and I pressed my back harder against the cool wall. I looked up into his handsome face, which was now stiff with concern. He reached out, cupped my jaw and smoothed the pad of his thumb over my lips. “It’s okay to want us both,” he murmured, his voice softening again. He dropped his head so low I could feel his hot, sweet breath washing over my cheek. “It’s more than okay, it’s what we were hoping for. It’s what we want, what we really want.”
I widened my eyes and stared straight into his. Looking into the dark blue depths was like plunging into the deepest part of the ocean. I felt enveloped by them, sucked in. “You’re not serious?” I asked, searching for signs he was mocking me, that he was pulling me along for a laugh.
“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” he said, running his other hand around my neck and cradling my head. “And Quinn, like he said, feels the same way.”
“You mean, you ‘wanted’ me to be attracted to you both?”
“Why do you think we put that advert in the local paper—‘wanted, girl to share’?” A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Quinn’s idea, he hoped it would send out a subliminal message to the perfect girl. And it did, here you are.” He leaned his body closer.
Heat radiated off him as strong as if I were standing before a raging log fire. “Our demanding jobs and professional focus mean women give up, they soon get bored of hanging around waiting for us. We can’t invest the time and attention we want, so we decided if we shared one woman between the two of us, then that one girl would get showered with attention and affection, there would always be one of us around. Well, most of the time anyway. There would always be one of us to look after her when the other was immersed in work.”
“This is crazy,” I said, resting my palms on the hardness of his chest. I could feel his heart beating fast, belying the cool air he was trying to give off. “You can’t share me, it’s just not right, and, and you hardly know me, how can you possibly think I’m perfect?”
“Mmm,” he said, tipping his head. “Number one, of course we can share you, neither of us are jealous of what the other has, we have a mutual respect that will last a lifetime.” He paused. “I’m not saying we wouldn’t get jealous if someone else set his sights on you.” He twitched his mouth and I felt his body tense. “Like that idiot Jed for example.”
“Jed was never my boyfriend,” I chipped in quickly. “It was a disastrous night that never ended in—”
“Never ended in what?” Liam interrupted in a low voice.
“Sex.” I shivered at the memory. It so nearly had.
“I’m glad to hear it.” A muscle flexed in his cheek. “And number two, not knowing you, not knowing if you’re perfect for us, well, that’s very subjective.” He let his eyes drift down my body but he was standing so close it was impossible to look farther than my breasts. “I would say physically you’re my ideal woman.” He poked out his tongue and licked his lips. “And as for knowing you, what you did by exposing Jed took courage, you sacrificed yourself for others, you did what you believed was right—these are all actions few people would have taken and I admire those qualities in you very much.”
I felt my knees turn watery as his words spun in my head, along with the champagne and the endorphins of my recent orgasm. It was all so much to take in. He thought I was physically perfect, he admired me, they wanted to share me—excitement hummed through my nerve endings at the possibility.
“I also know I want to fall in love with you,” Liam said quietly.
My brain stuttered at the word only used once before in my life. There had only ever been Geraint who’d loved me, no one else, and Geraint’s love belonged to his wife now. I slid my hands up to Liam’s shoulders. He wound one arm around my waist and pulled me close.
“Love is a big word, Liam, for two people who have only just met.”
“I’m not saying I’m in love with you now,” he whispered. “But I can recognize a woman who has everything I need.” He lowered his head and I watched, utterly mesmerized, as his sensual, soft lips parted. “I know I could easily fall in love with you, Ariane.”
I couldn’t help it, I wanted to kiss him again. I needed to feel those luscious lips take command of mine and taste his divine tongue as it ventured into my mouth. He wanted to fall in love with me. My breasts felt heavy, squashed against his hard pecs and as I pushed up to claim his mouth, my nipples dragged against his t-shirt deliciously.
His hand tightened in my hair and cupped the base of my skull with a firmness that let me know just how much he wanted me. I let out a small moan. Thoughts of sharing and perfectness dissolved. Liam was tracing the contours of my mouth as if I were the most exquisite creature on earth, when in actual fact it was him who was faultless, utterly divine.
“I want you,” he said, barely pausing in his kissing. “Will you come to my bed?”
I’d just had one sumptuous climax with Quinn but my need for another with Liam was too overwhelming to be ignored. I was desperate, even if the circumstances did seem unusual and forbidden. “Yes,” I said breathlessly. “Yes, Liam, yes I will.”
Chapter Four
Liam twined our fingers and tugged me to his room, the one next to mine. Our bare feet were quiet on the wood though our ragged breathing filled the hallway.
He opened the door and the scent of his light, slightly citrus aftershave, which did funny things to my knees and other parts of my anatomy, hit me like a heavenly assault on my nostrils.
But I didn’t have time to register any details other than a huge bed with a deep burgundy duvet and a big, soft cream leather La-Z-Boy, because Liam scooped me up, one hand behind my knees the other around my waist, and set about kissing me thoroughly as he strode to the bed.
I locked my arms around his neck and felt doll-like, tiny in his big arms. He tipped me gently onto the mattress and then fisted his t-shirt between his shoulders and dragged it over his head. I looked up at the delicate, paler skin of his armpits, untouched by the sun. The feather soft, golden hair matched that in the center of his chest. My mouth watered, a shiver of anticipation snaked up my spine—getting my hands on his body was going to be an enormous treat.
“You’ve got too many clothes on,” he said, flicking on a dim bedside lamp.
I hastily stripped off my top to reveal my neat white bra. It wasn’t hugely sexy but that didn’t seem to matter to Liam, his eyes were drawn to the soft mounds of my shifting breasts and stayed there as he rid himself of his jeans.
I unhooked the back of my bra and let it slide off my arms. I felt my own eyes drawn to the enormous tent in his black boxers. Like the rest of his delectable, big body, his cock, it appeared, was in perfect proportion.
“I want you so much it hurts,” he said, sliding onto the bed next to me. He reached out to brush the back of his thumb over my right nipple. “Like actually, physically…” He shifted his weight and grimaced. “Hurts.”
“We should do something about that then.” I touched my fingertips to his cheek and delighted in the darts of pleasure shooting through my breasts. “What do you think would help, Liam?”
“If we took these off it would be a start.” He hooked his index finger over the waistband of my jeans as his mouth brushed mine.
I dropped back onto the pillows, lifted my hips and shoved down my jeans and thong. I kicked and heard the material drop off the bed.
I lay naked in the muted light.
Liam was silent as he stared down at me.
Cool night air washed over my flesh. Goose bumps rose as a tremble in the center of my belly radiated down all four limbs. What if he didn’t like what he saw? What if I didn’t live up to his expectations?
“You’re beautiful,” he said, tipping onto his side and propping his head on his hand.
“So are you.”
He grinned and stroked his hand over my breasts, sweeping up the flesh and squeezing it gently in his palm. My nipple caught between two of his fingers and he trapped it and pulled.
I caught my breath and reached for the waist of his boxers. A sudden sense of impatience swept over me, I pulled the elastic out and shoved my hand down. I grasped his huge, hot shaft in my fist and squeezed.
“Careful with that, baby,” he said in a gravelly voice. “It’s primed to go off.” He dipped his head and suckled my right breast into his mouth.
I shifted my shoulders so I could still reach him and began slow slides up and down his cock. I let my thumb glide over the circumcised head, caught the drip of moisture I found there and used it as lube, swirling it around the slit and the deep ridge of hard flesh beneath his glans.
Liam let out a shudder and shifted to my left breast, repeating the same luscious suckling and massaging motion. I arched into the mattress and searched out his balls, rolled them in my fingers as my palm pressed against his shaft.
“Oh, that’s too good, too fucking good, Ariane,” he moaned. “You’ll have me coming and I want us to share that moment.” He shifted his hips away and I was forced to let go of his erection.
“Let me touch you,” he said. “Can I kiss you?” He swept his tongue from one corner of his mouth to the other. “Down here?” His fingers tapped over my stomach and settled in my neat triangl
e of pubes.
Who was I to argue? “Yes,” I said, swallowing tightly.
He ducked down the bed and I stretched out my legs so he could settle between them. I shut my eyes as he pushed at my inner thighs and spread me even wider open. It had been so long, too long since I’d had the pleasure of a man’s tongue loving my pussy.
Liam started at the base, below my entrance and then worked his tongue up through my soft folds of flesh, sweeping and laving until he reached my clitoris. I moaned and stretched down to touch his head. Raked my fingers into his hair and pressed on his scalp to encourage him on.
Sharply he lifted his face, forcing me to drop my hands from his head.
“What is it?” I asked, my shoulders rising from the pillow.
“Nothing.”
He bobbed back down and captured my clit in a deep, hard suck. My spine twanged like an elastic band at the acute rawness of the pleasure. He began strong rotations of his tongue within the suck and I moaned, reached for his head again and ground my hips up to meet his face.
He pulled away, sat up and rocked back on his heels. He stared down at me from his kneeling position.
I sucked in a breath, wondering what I’d done wrong. Didn’t he like the taste of me? After Quinn had already made me come, the rich, musky flavor of my sex was definitely hanging in the air. “What’s the matter, Liam?”
“Nothing, nothing at all.” He pushed his hand through his hair and it flopped back around his eyes like long-fingered feathers, but there was a flash of something indiscernible in his expression—wariness maybe, a closing down, a shutting out.
“Liam,” I said softly. “Tell me.” I sat up and reached for him. “What is it?”
“I will,” he said. “But not now.” He captured my face in his hands and pressed me back down with his body. “Now I just want to be inside you as much as I want to see tomorrow.”
His mouth harnessed mine in a profound but soft kiss. I curled my fingers over his perfectly smooth shoulder blades and became lost in his taste, his embrace, in his weight balancing over me.