Nine Marines' Shared Property: A Reverse Harem Romance (Love by Numbers Book 8)

by Nicole Casey

  I arrived sweating and winded, but I made it in record time—probably in a faster time than Manny could have. The terrace was full. Inside, I didn’t see Gwen, and I didn’t recognize either of the two girls working. I ordered a lemonade and took a seat in the back facing the door where I could watch, hoping Gwen would show up.

  A girl sitting at a table on the terrace turned her head. She saw me and smiled. But she wasn’t Gwen. I blinked and turned away.

  “Axel.” Gwen’s voice came to me from the side.

  I spun around, and there she was walking quickly towards me. I leapt out of my seat.

  She went in for a hug.

  “I’m gross and sweaty,” I said.

  She aborted her hug at the last moment and, instead, took my head in her hands and gave me a big kiss on the lips. “Axel, what a pleasant surprise.”

  Her hair was loosely tied back. A lock of hair fell over her eyes and lightly touched her cheek below a smudge of flour. she smiled at me with her lips and with her eyes. She was gorgeous.

  I smiled back and put my thumb to the smudge of flour. I tried to wipe it off but only managed to smear it further. It didn’t matter. Even her imperfections were flattering. “Hi, Gwen. I’m so happy to see you.”

  “Me too.”

  “These last few days have been so long. You have no idea.”

  She pursed her lips. “I think I might.”

  “How are you doing?” I said.

  She looked around. The cafe was busy. She bit down on her lower lip then looked back at me. “Shall we get out of here? I can leave the girls alone for a while.”

  My heart raced. I wiped my hands on my pants, swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded.

  “Hang on a sec,” she said. She went to one of the girls working, said something to her then came back. She took my hand in hers and led me to the door. “Let’s go for a little stroll along the beach. What do you say?”

  I could barely make out the words she was saying. I was concentrating on the touch of her hand against mine. My thumb ran lightly over her finger as if discovering it for the first time. I let go of her but kept my hand close to hers. I ran my fingers from her wrist down to the tips of her nails.

  She walked close to me; her shoulder bumped against mine. I felt my knees buckle and thought I would collapse. My cock stiffened and pressed painfully against my pants.

  I pointed to a bench up ahead. “Let’s take a seat.”

  “A seat?”

  “Just for a minute.”

  As soon as we sat on the bench, Gwen swung her legs over my lap. She put an arm around me, pulled me close to her, and we embraced.

  “Mmm, you are gross and sweaty,” she said, and she kissed me again, mixing in short pecs with longer deeper kisses.

  I pulled away and gasped for breath. “God, I’m so hard right now, my dick is going to burst through my pants.”

  She slid her hand between her legs; the tips of her fingers found the tip of my cock.

  I sucked in a breath through gritted teeth.

  Gwen looked around. “I wish there was something I could do about that right here, right now,” she said.

  I, too, looked around. There were people passing by every which way. My hand rubbed her leg from her knee up to her thigh. My other hand ran up and down her back. “We’re making a spectacle, aren’t we?” I said.

  Gwen swung her legs off me and hopped off the bench. She extended her hand for me to take. “Come on. Let’s walk along the beach.”

  I grimaced. My arousal had reached painful proportions. I closed my eyes and squeezed my hands into fists.

  “Are you OK?”

  I smiled and nodded. “Just a second.” I opened my eyes and released my balled-up fists. As I stood I adjusted myself. “There it is. Much better.”

  We walked along the beach. This time I kept my hands to myself. We talked easily about everything and nothing. It was like we’d known each other for years.

  “The other night,” said Gwen, “you guys left in a hurry.”

  “Did we?”

  “I thought we were just getting started.”

  “I think maybe we’d had a bit too much to drink.”

  “You mean, maybe I’d had too much to drink.” She bumped me with her shoulder. I bumped back.

  “Like I said, we’re big into the consent thing.”

  “I see,” she said. “And I was too drunk to consent?”

  I shrugged. “It was a judgment call. We erred on the side of caution.”

  “Hmm, interesting.” She looked at me and smiled mischievously. “Just don’t make that a habit.”

  I smiled back. “I’m sorry we left early. No hard feelings?”

  “No hard feelings. And stop apologizing.”

  “I’m—” I was about to say ‘sorry’, but I caught myself and bit my tongue.

  “Say, when’s your next night off?” she asked.

  “Tuesday.”

  She took my hand. “Any plans?”

  “No plans.”

  “I have some new recipes I want to try out. What would you say to an intimate evening, a home-cooked meal?”

  “That sounds great, actually. Unfortunately Manny and Nolan are on duty.”

  She stopped walking and turned to me. “I meant, an intimate evening just you and me.”

  I let go of her hand and took a step back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Gwen, I couldn’t do that.”

  She furrowed her brow. “Why not? I don’t get it.”

  I took off my glasses and wiped them on my shirt, hoping that would buy me some time to put my thoughts in order. But I was confused. I thought we had an understanding, and her invitation caught me by surprise.

  “Gwen, I can’t see you without the others. That would be like cheating.”

  Her eyes got real wide. “What?”

  “We’re a tight squad,” I started.

  “I know you’re a tight squad.”

  I detected irritation in her voice. I took her hands in mine. “I like you, Gwen, I really do. That’s an understatement, actually. But I thought we had an understanding.”

  She shook her head.

  “Gwen, you said you’re not into dating.”

  “Maybe I changed my mind.”

  I kissed her hand. “That’s good. I’m glad to hear that. But I can’t date you, not alone.”

  “Tight squad?”

  I nodded. “We share. We share everything.”

  She let go of my hands and turned away from the water. “I think we should head back.”

  We walked a moment in silence. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked.

  “No. I appreciate the honesty. I appreciate you being direct.”

  It was hard to tell from her tone of voice or her expression what she was thinking. I tensed up, thinking I might have blown my chance, our chance. I didn’t dare say a word. I just walked beside her waiting for her to speak, waiting for her to tell me everything was going to be OK.

  Finally, as we were leaving the beach, Gwen turned to me and said, “So, when’s the next time the whole tight squad has the night off?”

  9

  Manny

  There’s nothing better than a long run to calm the nerves and collect the thoughts. Since the night in Gwen’s apartment, I’d been going for a late-night run every night—and an early-morning run, and an afternoon run when my schedule permitted.

  My nerves were far from calmed; and my thoughts were far from collected.

  “It’s been ten days,” I said to the guys. I didn’t need to elaborate; they knew what I was referring to.

  “Ten long days,” said Santiago.

  “I haven’t even had the time to go down to the cafe,” said Taylor.

  “I have,” I said.

  “You’ve seen Gwen?” asked Axel.

  I shook my head. “No. I mean I’ve had time. But I think if I went to the cafe where she works and I saw her but I wasn’t able to touch her, I think that
would just make me crazy.”

  “You’re not crazy now?” said Elijah.

  I paced back and forth in the living room. “Believe me, I can go crazier.”

  “We believe you,” said Axel.

  Travis’s phone dinged. I spun around; all our heads spun to look at him.

  Travis calmly pulled his phone out of his breast pocket—calmly and slowly; too slowly. He read the message. “Your mission, if you choose to accept it: damsel in distress, body aching to be held by strong arms; pussy yearning to be stroked with a firm hand.”

  “Is that from Gwen?” said Tristan.

  With his deadpan delivery and his head so often in the clouds, I couldn’t tell if he was joking or being oblivious. Taylor punched him in the arm, and Tristan laughed.

  “I have Thursday night off,” said Travis. “And so do you,” he said to Tristan. “And you.” He pointed to Taylor.

  “Me too,” I said.

  J.P. shook his head. “I’m on duty.”

  “So am I,” said Elijah.

  “I’m free Thursday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Santiago.

  We compared schedules but couldn’t come up with a night we were all free.

  “Damn,” said Travis. “This is going to be hard.”

  “Fuck it,” said J.P. He turned to Elijah. “We can get Jorge and Rodriguez to swap shifts with us, right?”

  Elijah pulled out his phone. “I’m on it.” He put the phone to his ear and walked out of the room.

  Travis’s phone binged again. He read the message. “You know the location. The clock is ticking.”

  Elijah returned with a disappointed look on his face. He said to J.P., “No can do.”

  “Hell, guys,” I said. “What are we doing? We’re all here together now.”

  “Yeah, and?” said J.P.

  “Let’s go to her now,” I said.

  “It’s almost midnight,” said Elijah.

  “And?” I said. I walked over to the mirror and gave myself a quick inspection. Looking good and ready to please.

  “We’ve got six am drills,” said Santiago.

  I grabbed the keys to the SUV off the rack then I turned to the group. “Then we’d better hurry.”

  Axel jumped off the couch and joined me. The others followed, all but Santiago and Tristan. I looked at Santiago and said, “We’ve got six am drills, but we’ve also got midnight drills.” I raised an eyebrow.

  Santiago didn’t need any more convincing than that. And with eight of us on board, Tristan couldn’t refuse.

  “Tell her we’re on our way,” I said to Travis, and we filed out, quickly and orderly.

  A damsel in distress, nine Marines packed into an SUV, racing across town to the rescue. I joined the Marines looking for adventure, but this went well beyond what I’d expected. “Gentlemen,” I said in my overly dramatic voice, “remember your training.”

  Nolan looked at me and laughed. “What kind of training have you been doing?”

  J.P. put a hand to his crotch. “Equipment check.”

  “Yeah,” said Santiago from the driver’s seat, looking into the rearview mirror, “when’s the last time you cleaned your rifle, soldier?”

  J.P. exhaled loudly. “Actually, my unit hasn’t been deployed in quite some time.”

  It didn’t take us long to make it to Gwen’s place. However, finding a parking spot was a different matter. We ended up parking a few blocks away from her apartment. If anyone, looking out their window that night, saw us, nine Marines fast marching down the street, they would have thought that a most unusual sight. And who knows what they would have thought if they’d known where we were going and why.

  When we arrived at Gwen’s apartment, her front door was ajar; no lights were on inside.

  I pushed the door open and entered. “Gwen?”

  “In here.” Her voice came from a room down the corridor in the back.

  I motioned to the rest of the squad, and we filed down the corridor.

  I flung open the door.

  Gwen lay on her bed, wearing a black silk nightgown. One of the straps hung loose off her shoulder. One of her legs was bent at the knee, revealing her smooth tan thigh. She twirled a lock of hair with one hand while her other lay across her stomach, fingers spread and red painted fingernails pointing to her crotch.

  She looked delicious, ripped straight out of my fantasies and made even more desirable.

  I got hard instantly.

  “Finally,” she said in a lazy, breathy voice. “It took you so long.”

  I stepped toward the bed, unfastening my belt. “You’re mistaken,” I said. “It’s you who’s going to take it long: long and hard.”

  I snapped off my belt and tossed it to the side. In an instant, the squad had surrounded the bed. Without coordinating or even looking at each other, we all slipped off our pants at the same time.

  Gwen pulled herself up and looked around her, mouth agape. “Oh, my.”

  “Oh, my’s right,” said J.P. and he crawled onto the bed.

  I slipped out of my boxers, freeing my stiff cock from the confining fabric. I was ready to pounce. But instead, I watched as my colleagues closed in on her, their bodies casting her in shadow as they overtook her.

  Taylor on one side and Travis on the other, they each ran a hand down her legs spreading them apart.

  She wore white panties. I zoned in on my target. I crawled onto the bed. I snatched her panties with my teeth and tore them off of her.

  She tried to shift or turn, but my colleagues held her down.

  I placed my hands on either side of her snatch. I ran my thumbs up the contours of her labia, spread them apart and slid my tongue inside. She was wet, and I was thirsty.

  I sucked and licked and kissed her snatch, marrying the movements of my mouth with those of her gyrating hips. I slid a hand underneath her to lift her and pull her closer to me. My tongue entered and explored. God, she tasted good.

  I pulled away for a breath. As soon as I’d pulled away, she was taken from me. I couldn’t see who had grabbed her; perhaps it was Tristan or Travis. Whoever it was, he lifted her, turned her around and set her back on the bed, on her knees, her face mere inches from mine.

  I held her by the jaw. I kissed her on the forehead then her temple and around and under her half-closed eye, making my way slowly down to her mouth. When my lips met hers, I let my eager hands glide down her neck, glide down her chest and grab her heaving breasts.

  Someone entered her from behind; I didn’t look to see who. But I saw her face light up, and she let out a cry of pleasure. I put my mouth to her breast. I felt a nudge, as one of my colleagues did the same to her other breast.

  She rocked back and forth, her tit slapping me in the face. Gwen was loud, providing grunts and moans to the rhythm. The whole bed shook. I thought it might break. I hopped off, and as soon as I’d done that Elijah took my place.

  Axel was now behind her, fucking her. Travis was running his mouth up her leg and hips alternating between his tongue and his teeth.

  Taylor was holding her with an arm over her back and a hand gripped to her side. His other hand held her tit against his cock.

  With Elijah nibbling at her neck, all I could see of Gwen was her face. Her hair fell over her eyes. I put my hand to her head and brushed back her hair.

  She looked at me, her eyes half closed.

  I put my mouth to hers, not touching, but I wanted to feel the breath of her grunts against my lips.

  She screamed so loud I got concerned. I pulled back and looked into her eyes, and my concerns were alleviated. She was screaming from pleasure. I leaned in and smiled. “Are you OK?”

  She answered with another scream then she bit into my neck, hard. I, too, let out a reflexive yelp. She took my cock in her hand, her other hand wrapped around Taylor’s neck.

  She stroked me in rhythm to Axel and now J.P. taking her from behind.

  “I’m going to come,” I said. I pulled away and fought off the urge to ejac
ulate.

  In the moment that I pulled away, Gwen was again lifted and turned over. She landed on her back on the bed; her lips were now inches from my cock.

  Nolan pulled her legs up and he entered her, which pushed her against my awaiting shaft.

  She screamed again.

  I silenced her with my shaft in her mouth.

  She sucked me greedily.

  I moaned then pulled out and released onto her chest.

  I was the first, followed by a stream, literally, of others.

  10

  Gwen

  Sharing an apartment with Holly had its benefits. Holly was great fun and a great friend. Also, my sexting chops were pretty lacking, and she was great help with that as well.

  According to Holly, everything could be an innuendo, and it didn’t really matter if it made sense or not; guys are more than happy to connect the dots as long as you let them know you want them to. This sounded very similar to what Christy had told me. So coming from those two ‘experts’, it certainly wasn’t without merit.

  I sent Travis a text: ‘Now that I’ve completed basic training, I’m waiting for further training from the drill instructor.’

  His reply: ‘That wasn’t basic training; that was ‘Hello’.

  I sent: ‘Can’t wait for basic training then. I’m looking forward to getting to shoot some rifles.’

  According to Holly, I didn’t need to worry whether I was being too silly or not. Guys aren’t reading my texts for literary merit. Just keep it light, keep it sexy and keep it coming.

  I had to fight the urge to ask when I could see them again. According to Holly, coming across as too available—not to mention too eager—was a big turn off. That piece of advice was hard to abide by. It had been nearly a week since I last saw them—with the exception of Axel stopping by the cafe briefly.

  They did say that their training program had increased recently, and it might be a while before they were able to leave the base. Apparently, according to Axel, our midnight romp destroyed them for their morning drills, and four of the nine were reprimanded the following day.

  I suggested that they should incorporate a few midnight romps into their training program, but Axel, in a rather dry way, said that it was a bit more serious than that.