Game of Throbs Complete Series (Books 1-3)

by Piquette Fontaine

  “She’s a very astute young woman, isn’t she?” was Xander’s question. “I’m just not sure how she feels about it, now she knows.”

  “If you mean is she bothered by it, the answer’s no. Lee’s not like that. I think it’s just a shock. Like I said, when I ran from you that time in college, I used Wendy to hide the truth from myself, but also to stop me from jumping her bones. Now she probably thinks I’m gay, so she’s still lost to me, until she hears the whole story.”

  Chad sounded frustrated, and she gasped at the new revelation. How many years had they both wasted, not talking to each other, believing things that weren’t true! She knew she would have to do something to change the situation, and resolved that once they had come to some agreement about the job, she would address it. She was tired of denying herself the love she had wanted all these years. She was ready to go as far as Chad wanted to go. It was past time. Decision made, she squared her shoulders and walked back onto the room to find them standing next to each other by the imposing desk, waiting for her.

  “All right now?” Chad asked, while Xander examined her features minutely with his piercing blue eyes.

  “Yes, thank you.” She looked both men in the eye and smiled, and then said, “Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks.” She resumed her seat, took her tablet out of her bag, and waited.

  The meeting went well after that. They discussed what had already been done for the school, what her role and theirs would be, and then Xander asked her what she was thinking.

  “I’ve thought a lot about it these last two weeks,” she said, “and my only concern, really, is when you would expect me to begin there. I’d have a lot of loose ends to tie up here, for starters, but there’d also be things I’d need to do there before I begin.”

  “Perhaps we can help,” Xander said. “Tell us what you’re thinking about.”

  She explained her concerns about having to give notice, about the lease on her house, about shipping her things back home. And then there was the question of where to live once she was home. She had not lived in her parents house since she was eighteen, she reminded Chad, and had no desire to return.

  “We can help with housing once you’re back home,” Chad said, but offered no further comment.

  “Just remember my budget,” she said. “I’m not independently wealthy, as it’s clear you now are.” She offered a small smile to take any sting out of her words. Chad didn’t answer, only smiled back at her.

  “As to the issues here, I think we can wait till the end of the school year,” Xander said, “so you’ll have ample time to give notice. And if you’ll allow us, we can help with the other major issues as well.”

  “Won’t there be a problem with my being hired if there’s no transparent process?”

  Xander lifted a brow. “Transparent how?” he asked.

  “Well, have you posted the job over there? Who is applying? Will I also have to apply? Isn’t there a board that directs these things?”

  “All reasonable questions,” he answered with a smile. “This is why we need someone like you in our corner. The board of trustees has given us complete oversight, but we did introduce them to the two candidates we thought would fit the position. We told them who we wanted, after they told us who they preferred. Turns out, you’re it, unanimously agreed upon.”

  Lee eyed him skepitcally, and Chad chuckled. “Scout’s honor, Lee, we didn’t twist any arms, I promise you.”

  She relaxed, and nibbled her lower lip in thought, unaware of how the gesture was affecting Xander. “Okay. That’s a huge relief to me. So, am I signing papers today, or do we need to meet again?”

  There was a pause, enough to make her look sharply at the two men again. Then Chad spoke.

  “You can sign the papers today, if that’s what you want, but the contract won’t go into effect until the Fall, which means…”

  “Which means I can change my mind at any time between now and then,” she concluded.

  “Yes.” Neither man offered any further response.

  “Why? Why give me so much latitude?” She was suddenly suspicious again. She watched them look at each other, and then Chad pulled up a chair next to the one she was sitting in.

  “There’s something else we need to talk about,” he said. “Xander and I have already discussed it, and we know what we would like to happen. But it won’t happen unless you agree to be a part of it.”

  He paused again, looking over at Xander, who came to him as though he’d been called, and squatted next to them both. Chad took a deep breath and continued.

  “I know you’ve thought me out of reach for all the years we’ve known each other, Lee, and particularly since your senior year in high school. That’s been my fault, but something momentous happened to me that year, and I was too much of a coward to deal with it then.”

  Lee stopped him, leaning forward to touch his hand, the first voluntary contact with him that she had made in nine years. “I think I know what you’re going to say, Chad. I overheard you talking to Xander earlier.”

  He turned his hand so that hers was now cradled in his. “That’s not the half of it,” he said, “but it’s a place to start. I fell in love with you almost from the first moment we met, but you were my step-sister, my kid sister, and I was still too young to know how to deal with those feelings. And that Christmas when I came home with Wendy, I had known Xander for a year and a half, and was also in love with him, but I couldn’t allow myself to believe that those feelings were real.”

  He turned to look at the man crouching next to them, and another of those intimate smiles lit up his face. “Xander has always been the braver man,” he said, “and I still have to blink twice, sometimes, to accept that he let me back in after I ran from him. And now,” he continued, “I’m asking you to do the same for me. I’ve accepted who I am, and I need you to accept me too.”

  Lee sat back, realizing she hadn’t understood all that she had heard before. She had no problem with Chad and Xander being lovers, but how was she to fit into that equation? Unless…

  “Are you...are you saying what I think you’re saying, Chad?” She turned shocked eyes to his face.

  “What do you think he’s saying, Lee?” Xander spoke for the first time since the conversation had begun.

  She turned to look at him properly, feeling the spark of interest arc between them again, and said the first thing that popped into her head.

  “Shouldn’t you get a chair? It can’t be comfortable crouching there like that.”

  Xander laughed and rose to do her bidding, pulling up another chair to sit at her other side. She was effectively caged in by the men, and though he wasn’t touching her, she could feel the warmth of the big Dutchman reaching out to envelop her.

  “So, what do you think he’s saying?” Xander repeated his question.

  Lee bit her lip again, and the gesture made Xander’s eyes sharpen. He felt his body stirring, as he wondered what those lips would taste like. He had to refocus to hear her reply.

  “It sounds like he’s asking me to be part of his life...which would mean being part of yours, too.” She paused, worrying her lip again, and Xander growled. Chad looked over at him and chuckled, distracting her from her thoughts. “What?” she asked.

  “You’re winding up my man,” he said, and laughed aloud at the look on her face.

  Lee shot a glance at Xander and noted the color creeping into his cheekbones. “Is he serious? Are you...what did I do?”

  Xander’s voice was deep when he answered. “I have a thing for lips,” he admitted. “Yours are very enticing, and when you bite them…”

  He looked into her eyes meaningfully, and then looked at her lips, and Lee could almost feel the weight of his stare on them. She felt her own cheeks grow warm, and feeling suddenly anxious, she sat back in the chair, pulling her hand from Chad’s grasp. He reached for it again, and so did Xander, and the effect of both men touching her, even in such an innocuous way, was startling. She fe
lt a faint trembling begin in her limbs, and chalked it up to the unexpected nature of the conversation.

  “Do our parents know about you, Chad?” She really seemed to have no control over what came out of her mouth, but she wouldn’t regret the question. There was clearly a lot she didn’t know.

  “Yes, they do. So does Chance. You’re the only one who didn’t know, till now.”

  “I guess that’s my fault,” she said without rancor. “I...I have a confession of my own to make.” She looked at Chad briefly, then lowered her eyes. “The feelings have been mutual. Which is why I stayed away so often.”

  “I figured as much,” he said. “And Wendy didn’t help, did she?”

  “She was the last straw,” Lee agreed.

  “So, what do you think of Chad’s idea?” Xander’s question brought them back to the other point.

  “I...I think it might be fine, if we were all in love with each other,” she said, feeling herself blushing furiously. “I’ve never thought about being part of a menage, obviously, but I’ve never been averse to trying new things. Though this is a huge new thing for me. And if there isn’t affection, at least, I can’t be a part of it.”

  She knew she would never give herself to a man she didn’t have any feelings for, and she wanted to be honest with these men, especially if she was thinking about living with them. Which reminded her…

  “What about my job? I work in a convent school,” she said, biting her lip unconsciously again. “I can’t lose it because of this. And the headmistress won’t be understanding about this at all.”

  “You don’t have to live with us here, Lee,” Xander said, squeezing her hand.

  “But how will we…?”

  “...get close to learn if we’re meant to be together?” Chad finished her question. She nodded, and he said, “No one will be suspicious of you and me being together. We’re related by marriage. And if you’re seen with Xander, well, what’s to stop you from having a relationship with him? You’re not related to him at all!”

  “And I suspect,” Xander added, raising her hand to his lips, “that your headmistress had an inkling that you might need some privacy to be a grown up, which is part of why she insisted you live outside of the convent, don’t you?”

  Both men had moved forward in their seats. Chad cupped her cheek in his palm. “I assume you haven’t abstained for nine years.” When she blushed, he said, smiling, “Though it would have been nice to be your first, I’m glad you found someone to make you feel special, love.”

  “What makes you think it was special?” she asked, her heart leaping at the endearment, and then gasped as she realized what she had revealed. She really had lost complete control of her tongue. She had never discussed her love life with anyone, because it had been such an abject failure. The time for hiding, though, was clearly over. She knew it as she looked into the faces of the men who wanted to be her lovers.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Xander spoke into the sudden silence that followed Lee’s question. “If you’re okay with it, may we sit together on the sofa, Lee? I’d like us to be closer to each other.”

  She nodded and they went to the long leather sofa by the window. She sat between them, wondering what would happen next, what Xander meant by ‘closer’. When she felt Chad’s lips on her cheek, she got her answer, and she turned to face him, so his lips met hers. He kept the kiss gentle, for which she was grateful. After all these years of dreaming about kissing him, she needed a little time to adjust to the new dynamic in their relationship. Especially as they had an audience, someone whom she knew wanted in on the action. She kissed him back, feeling the shock of lust long suppressed shudder through her. She cupped his cheek, and sighed, letting him in for a proper lover’s kiss.

  Chad groaned. The woman he had been crazy about since he met her as a raw teenager was kissing him, and he knew enough to know she wanted him. He lost himself for a moment in the kiss, playing with her tongue as she tentatively gave him access. Then he reached for his lover, and let her lips go so he could suck on Xander’s tongue, and transfer the taste of her to his mouth. Sensual overload threatened, and all he was doing was kissing the people he loved. He had never been so stoked so quickly, but then, he had never been with the two people he wanted more than anything else in the world at the same time. He trembled at the feel of his lover’s tongue in his mouth, and thrilled to the sound of Xander’s moan. And then he felt a hand pushing him away, and Lee spoke.

  “How does kissing work in a menage?”

  Xander laughed softly. “Feeling left out? We can show you,” he said, “but I don’t think you’re ready for that much quite yet. So let’s do it the traditional way first, hmmm? Like this.”

  He leaned down as he spoke and captured her lips, teasing them, aware that she still knew almost nothing of him as a man, but needing to feel those full lips beneath his, if only for a moment. He would take the time to learn about her as soon as he got this first taste. He started by simply nuzzling her lips with his, increasing the pressure as she relaxed, moving from the corners of her mouth to each lip, before settling on her mouth for a longer kiss. He nibbled on her lower lip, like she had done, licking the places he nipped, before suckling them between his own. He treated her upper lip to the same sensual attention, liking the way she moaned against his lips when he suckled her, and when she opened her mouth, no longer able to resist him, he swept in with his eager tongue and teased hers out to play.

  The touch of Xander’s tongue was driving Lee wild. She had always loved kissing, and recognized an expert when Xander took over the kisses that Chad had started. The two men were making her crazy, and she loved how they were building her passion. She had thought she wanted them to slow down, when she pushed Chad away, but now she realized she really wanted them to go faster. She wanted both men’s hands and mouths on her. And in a small, hidden place in her heart, she realized she wanted both men inside her. The thought came unbidden, and shocked her to her core. She must have reacted to it, because Xander slowed his sensual assault on her lips and looked down at her.

  “Too much too soon?” he asked, breathing deeply, his cheeks colored with his growing need.

  She shook her head, and looked between the two men who so clearly wanted to do more than just kiss her. “No. I just...I…” She didn’t know how to say what was happening with her, and was a bit embarrassed by the intensity of feelings she had never even known she was capable of having.

  “Tell us, Lee,” Chad encouraged her, and reaching up to cup a breast. He stroked the warm flesh, and the hardened nipple below the fabric of her shirt as he waited for her to tell them what was going on with her. He was turning himself, and he hoped her, on even more as he caressed and petted her, and when he looked over and saw Xander’s eyes on his hands, he felt heat rise inside him even higher. To have his lover watching him stroke the woman they wanted was its own kind of aphrodisiac.

  “I don’t understand. I’ve never…” She swallowed as Xander’s hand took up the assault, unbuttoning her blouse, and doubling her pleasure by stroking the other breast.

  “You’ve never what?” Chad’s voice was hoarse, and he stole a quick kiss from her before pulling back to listen.

  “I’ve never felt like this before.”

  “This?” Xander wanted to know. “This aroused?”

  “Not just that,” she said. “I’ve never felt this aroused by two men at the same time.” She moaned when both men pinched her nipples, as though they had rehearsed their moves beforehand. The thought gave her pause, and she struggled to focus through the onslaught on her senses.

  “Have you been in a menage before?” she asked, putting her hands up to stop their teasing. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

  “Not a menage, no, but we’ve been in a couple of threesomes. Why?”

  “You seem to be very synchronized, like you practiced the moves before I came. Like you knew you were going to seduce me…” Her voice trailed off as they renewed the
ir pleasuring of her lace-covered breasts.

  “We knew we would seduce you, if you’d let us,” Xander said. “Will you let us show you how good it can be between us?”

  When she nodded, Xander’s hands moved to pull her away from the back of the couch, and into his lap, so that her head rested on his thighs. At the same time, Chad raised her legs, stretching them across his own, so that she ended up lying across both men. Without waiting for more talk, Xander bent over and kissed her, a deep, hard kiss this time. And while he worried her nipples, Chad slid his hand up her thigh, kneading and stroking it, sliding it over the round flesh and between her closed legs. She spread them for him, and he pushed one leg up so her foot was between his legs on the seat. She felt exposed and vulnerable, and yet she could feel the cream beginning to gather between the tingling lips of her sex.

  Chad felt her trembling increase when he opened her up, and he fought to keep control of his desires. He wanted to slide down to her pussy lips and kiss her there, matching his kisses with those that Xander was giving her above. But he would wait. He wanted her to come, and that would have to do for now. He hadn’t expected her to be this receptive so soon, and he wanted to build on it as quickly as possible. And he hoped Xander would fall for her. He could see his lover was already turned on by her, but he knew sex alone would not be enough. Pushing the serious thoughts from his mind, he slid his fingers up till they brushed the seat of her panties, which he was gratified to note were damp with her response to them. He wanted her wet before she came all over his fingers.

  Lee groaned when she felt the whisper touch of Chad’s fingers against the lips of her sex. She knew she was damp, and she wanted him to draw the cream from her core, as Xander’s kisses seemed to be doing. She had never come from just being kissed before, but she felt as if Xander was about to make that happen as he sucked and licked her, nipping her lips, suckling her tongue, taking her mouth with his tongue the way she imagined he would use his cock in her. She couldn’t stop the moans that rose in her throat as the two men drove her slowly up till her body was crying out for release.