Evvie’s gaze had gone to Gio when he spoke, and she paled even further. Then she looked at Chase and finally back at Briggs. She moved back from the door and wordlessly motioned them in.
Briggs stepped in and touched her back, setting her ahead of him. The front door opened to a large, welcoming living room. Hardwood floors glistened, warmed by large area rugs in bright colors. The furniture was mostly leather, deeply upholstered, and large enough that the three men who now filled the room would be almost comfortable in it. The couch and both chairs had pillows and a blanket each, and books—on the seat itself, or a nearby table. Kids’ books, like for a seven-year-old. And others, like a mother would read, to herself or to her child. A lot of books. A couple of them were authored by Briggs Henriksen, he happened to notice.
Gio pushed through and went to the photos Briggs had known would be there. On walls, tabletops, and mantle—to either side of the crystal Benny—pictures documented Maisy’s life from babyhood. Chase had stayed by the door. Briggs stuck close by Evvie in the center of the room, though she had moved away from his touch.
“You don’t know which of us she belongs to, do you, Evvie?”
Evvie looked back. “She belongs to me, Chase. Beyond that, I think of her as coming from all of you. And from Shepherd, too.”
Briggs could see what she meant. The thing that had driven all three of them to her that night was the loss of Shep. “Evvie,” he said. “We don’t intend to take her from you. But we should know who the father is. We should have done better by you.”
“It doesn’t matter to me who fathered her. I see all of you in her, including Shepherd. And I have done fine by myself. We have done fine.”
Gio spoke next. “We should have been there for you, Ev. One of us should have been. You should have told us.”
Evvie wrapped her arms around herself, looking forlorn. Gio had always been the gentlest with her, despite his temper. Getting chastised by him obviously hurt. Then she rallied. “Told you what, Giovanni? That the trailer park whore’s daughter had sex with three men in one night and doesn’t know who her baby’s father is?”
Gio’s temper flared back. “It wasn’t like that, Ev, and you know it.”
Briggs put an arm around Evvie’s shoulder and pulled her in a little. He touched his lips to her temple. “No. It wasn’t like that. We loved you.”
She kept her head turned down, away. “Did you plan it? The way you came, all three of you alone, that night?”
“No,” Briggs reassured. “We each came to you out of need, on our own, independently. None of us knew until just now that the others had done the same thing.
“We also each came to see you last Saturday, Ev, after what happened a week ago. Each of us wanted to see you again, and we all saw you with Maisy.
“Every one of us thought we were fathers, Ev, and that you’d kept our daughter from us.”
“I’m sorry,” Evvie said. “I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. You were all gone. Shepherd was gone. I just thought of Maisy as something of mine, like a gift from you all. She was what I had. All that I had.”
“We’re ashamed, Evvie, that we left you alone. Not one of us was responsible enough to check on you, to make sure there hadn’t been a problem.”
“There wasn’t a problem, Briggs. There was a baby. And she was mine. Is mine.”
Briggs nodded, understanding even though it didn’t relieve her of guilt. Or him, either. “She was all you had. But you should have had one of us, too.”
“I had Miss Victory. She watched Maisy while I went to school. I got my degree, and then I got a job. I’ve had all that I needed.”
“Evvie,” Chase spoke sternly. “We’ll get testing done. Then one of us is going to marry you.
“No!”
Briggs and Evvie spoke together, and Chase raised a brow at them both.
He spoke to Evvie first. “Yes. One of us is that girl’s father, and none of us ever would have meant to have a child raised by a single mother. We might have behaved carelessly the night of Shep’s funeral, but we each would have stood up to our actions.”
Then he turned his attention to Briggs. “And yes, if you’re Maisy’s father, you’ll do the right thing. I promise you will.”
Briggs waved away Chase’s threat. “That’s not what I meant. I don’t care which of us is the father. What I meant is that I’d like to—” What? Marry Evvie?
Maybe, Briggs thought. He let the idea settle and didn’t find wild, panicky objections banging around in his brain. But he hadn’t seen her for eight years. It seemed a little unreasonable to be talking marriage.
“Evvie, would you—? I’d like to—”
“Wait.” Gio put down the photo he was holding and walked closer to Evvie and Briggs. “I’d like to, also.”
“Also what?” Chase walked closer, too. They pretty much had Evvie surrounded. “What are you guys suggesting?”
Briggs stepped over the cliff. He took Evvie’s hand and held it gently. “Evvie, you know I’ve always loved you. I’d like to see more of you. If things work out between us, I’d like to be Maisy’s father. I’d like to be your husband.”
Gio took her other hand. “I’d like the same thing, Ev.”
“Shit.” Chase tugged his hand through his hair and walked to a window.
“It doesn’t matter if Maisy is yours, Chase. If Evvie agrees, I’ll take her as my own.” Briggs was entirely sincere, sure of the truth of it.
Chase turned around. “That’s not what I meant. I meant, shit, I want the same thing.”
“She’ll need to choose.”
* * * *
At Giovanni’s words, all eyes turned to Evangeline.
Somehow, she’d lost control of what was happening in her own house. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. It had always been the four of them, with Shepherd—a bit older than she, a unit, in careless kindness taking into their group poor little Evvie. Learn to read? Yes, of course. Brush her hair before she got on the bus? Okay, sure. She’d been so grateful, she’d never objected to their presumptions about what she should want, what was good for her.
No more. She would not allow the three of them to stand in her home and decide her future.
Choose. She loved them all and had ever since that first day they’d met. Why did they think she’d let every one of them make love to her the night of Shepherd’s funeral? Why would she have behaved like the loosest of women, like her own mother, having wild sex with each of them in the course of three days?
How could she possibly choose?
“That’s not going to happen.” No. She would never be able to choose. She never should have had the smallest fantasy that she could have them in her life. She should have turned her back on every one of them last week. Because, of course they would think they were in charge. That she would bow to their will. She’ll need to choose. Speaking of her as though she weren’t even present.
Evangeline pulled her hands away, walked to the door, and opened it. “You guys are still the idiots you were the day I met you. Go away.” She motioned out the door. “Each of you. Go find a woman to love and make your own children.”
None of them moved.
Briggs spoke first. “I see a woman to love right here, Ev. Just like I did ten days ago.”
Chase walked to her and, over her shoulder, pushed the door closed. “So do I. Like last Sunday. “
“Yeah. Me, too. Saturday.” That was Gio. “What did you think that meant, Ev? Did you think you were nothing but a quick fuck to us?” He stopped and looked around, started again. “To me, I mean. What made you think you could run?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re going to have to choose.”
Evangeline didn’t like the way Chase hovered over her. She ducked under his arm and moved away—away from all of them.
“You guys are crazy. I haven’t seen you for eight years, and now all three of you are, what? Proposing?” She got a handle on her ire and lowered her voice. “Doesn�
��t that seem a little crazy to you?”
“We don’t expect you to marry us right off.” Chase paused, realizing, like Gio, exactly what he’d said. “One of us, I mean. It’s reasonable to take some time, see how you feel about it. We—one of us—could just spend some time with you. With Maisy, too. It’s just, you’d have to decide which one.”
Evvie shook her head, certain of what she knew. “It won’t ever work.” She looked at each of them. “You all took me in. You guys taught me to read. Briggs, you taught me to love it. Gio, you took me home and fed me in your mother’s kitchen. Chase, you bought me winter boots. Which one of you should I love less? How can you imagine that I could choose?”
Briggs looked at her, and she knew he believed her. That was something, at least.
“Then we’ll do the testing.” He looked at his friends. “Whoever is Maisy’s father gets them both.”
None of them liked that idea, she could tell. Not even Briggs, who proposed it.
Chase dug his hands into his pockets and looked at the floor. “I suppose that’s best.”
Gio crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t like it.”
Evvie waved the objection away. “You guys don’t understand. I love you all. I always have and always will. Even if I married one of you, I wouldn’t stop loving the others. Which of you would want to live with that? It just won’t work.”
Briggs watched her carefully. “You love us all, Evvie? You could love us all?”
He stepped closer and put a hand along her neck. He was tall, so much taller than she was, standing there barefooted. They all were, all of them six feet or more, and suddenly, they surrounded her again.
Briggs leaned in and touched his lips to hers.
Evvie shuddered. She wanted this. She wanted Briggs to kiss her. With a little surrendering moan, she leaned into his hand.
He took, and she let him have her. His mouth opened over hers, lips brushing hard and then tongue delving in. He tasted her, groaning as he went deeper.
She felt a hand at her waist, an arm pulling her away. She was turned, and then Gio had her mouth. He kissed her just as aggressively.
God help her, she wanted that, too. While Briggs kissed her she’d slid a hand along his neck, feeling the pulse of his heartbeat there. Her hand stayed where it was, keeping her connection to Briggs even as Giovanni owned her mouth. Even as she lifted her other hand to circle Giovanni’s shoulder.
Then Chase had her, taking her from Giovanni’s arms into his own. He kissed her, sliding his hands down body, bringing her close against him.
She felt his erection rise against her belly. The others moved in closer. She savored the heat of them as they pressed against her. Giovanni slid a hand in to cover her breast. He squeezed, finding her nipple with thumb and forefinger, and she moaned again.
Chase lifted his head but held her close, a hand on either side of her neck. He looked from one of his friends to the other and then back at her. “Evvie,” he said, his voice rough. “What do you want us to do?”
Giovanni’s hand squeezed her nipple hard. She shuddered and, with a moan, looked up at him. Watching her, he deliberately ran his hand down until he was at her center, rubbing at her clit through the denim of her jeans.
She shivered again, wanting that touch. She swallowed hard. Chase had asked what she wanted. So she told him. “Keep going.” She lifted up to kiss Chase again and moved her hand to circle Briggs’s neck. “Don’t stop.”
At some unspoken signal they were all in. Briggs took her head with one hand, digging into a kiss. With the other, he found her breast.
One of them—Chase?—was at her other side. Two male hands found her nipples and worked them, tugging and pulling.
Giovanni murmured, “Mouth,” and she was turned there. He kissed her hard, even while he was still working at her clit. Then it was Chase kissing her, and Giovanni’s free hand went to her ass.
Evvie started humming, moaning out her arousal.
She’d had six sexual encounters in her life. The night of the funeral, when three men had made silent, urgent love to her. They’d been intense and needy, but each had given her an orgasm. It was lovely, endearing, and meaningful.
Then that weekend of unexpectedly meeting up with each of them, when she’d learned the wild thrill of passionate lovemaking.
But it hadn’t been this. This was incredibly arousing, unbelievably erotic. Each man pressed into her enough that she felt his hard-on. Each was kissing her, touching her, driving her into a sexual frenzy.
They crowded in close. Giovanni’s fingers were pushing her to orgasm, and her body started to rock. She arched her back, offering her breasts. She was panting out urgent, needy breaths.
“She’s fucking going to come, Gio. Finish her off.” Chase kissed her roughly then backed off to let her catch her breath.
Mouths and hands, wickedly skilled fingers touched her everywhere. One of them had found his way up her shirt now, and she felt hot skin against her flesh. Fingers pinched and tugged at her nipples, a seductive addition to the determined stimulation of her clit. In front of her, Chase held her face, and she pressed into his shoulder, breathing in the male scent of him, burrowing in for safe haven as they drove her.
In just moments more it happened. She moaned, a needy sound that rose in pitch and volume. The swift, relentless stroking of her clit drove her over, an orgasm made all but intolerable by the added stimulation from those other touches.
Evvie nearly collapsed as she spasmed, supported now by the hard bodies that surrounded her. She cried out, slinging her arms around whatever strong shoulder she could reach.
It was long moments before she quieted, before anyone spoke. Then, it was Chase.
“Jesus. Are we going to fuck her?”
“Yes.” Giovanni had no hesitation. “Say yes, Evvie.”
Chase held her, gaze locked onto her, until she said it. Her voice shook with it. “Yes.”
Then Giovanni had her lifted up in his arms. “Where’s your bedroom?”
She lifted an arm from around his neck to point to the stairs. Then she reached for Chase, nearest to her, and caught at his sleeve as Giovanni carried her away. Chase and Briggs exchanged a look, then came along behind.
Following her directions, Giovanni moved swiftly. He took her to the bed and set her on her feet. Then he pulled her close and kissed her. He had his hands at her waist, rocking his pelvis against her. His hands moved, and he took hold of her shirt, pulling up until his fingers were on bare skin above her jeans. He stroked along denim, letting his fingers dip in.
He stood back a little when hands touched her from behind. She turned her head, and Briggs was there. He kissed her, then took her shirt and lifted it up over her head. Giovanni muttered a curse as he looked at her.
She hadn’t dressed for lovemaking—not this day or any other of her life, except for three days one week before. Her bra was simple white lace and cotton, but it seemed to please Giovanni, and then Chase, too, as he came to stand at his friend’s side. Or maybe it wasn’t the bra so much as the way her breasts lifted with each urgent breath.
Chase placed a hand on her chest, his palm riding the upper curve of her breast. “Is this what you want, Evvie? To have all of us here, loving you?”
She nodded. She couldn’t be less than honest with them. “Yes, Chase. It’s what I want.”
Giovanni had less concern for her agreement. He stroked his finger under her bra on the other side, curling it around her nipple. Then he slid it along the edge and followed the strap up to her shoulder. Tugging, he pulled it down her arm. The fabric caught on her distended nipple, and she cried out as he yanked hard to release it, the lace chafing against her already inflamed tissue.
“Jesus, God.” Giovanni murmured.
“She’s fucking beautiful,” Chase agreed.
Giovanni gave her a long look as he took hold of her bare breast and lifted it. Then he swooped down and took her in his mouth.
Hot suc
tion fired a shock of sharp arousal that stirred heat in her pussy. She arched back, giving Giovanni more access and rolling her head into Briggs’s shoulder. He turned his mouth to her, growling and nipping at her ear. “Evvie,” he said. “We’re going to have you. All of us. We’re going to fuck you. Together.”
He strummed his fingers up her abs until he covered her other breast. Then he bared that one, too, and took hard hold of her nipple. She moaned, needy again despite that wild orgasm they’d just given her.
“Yes,” she whimpered. “Yes. Please.”
Chase nudged in closer. He hooked his fingers into her jeans and unfastened the button. Slowly, he ratcheted down the zipper.
He hummed out a breath of pleasure when he uncovered her undies, though Evvie knew he was seeing only the white cotton of her low-ride bikini. He ran his finger over there, dipping in just enough to brush her clit, already so sensitized.
She moaned, and Giovanni lifted her head. “Get her out of those. I want to see her pussy.”
Chase leaned in, kissing her breast wetly and then working at her jeans, lowering them down her hips and past her thighs. At the same time, Briggs unfastened her bra and slipped it away.
Giovanni had stepped back to watch. He tore his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. Looking at her, naked and on display for him now, he opened his jeans.
Behind her, Briggs held her breasts and thumbed her nipples. Chase palmed her abdomen and then slid his fingers down, pressing between her legs. He drew her attention as he pushed his middle finger into her.
“Ohh,” Evvie moaned. Giovanni’s gaze was on her, Briggs and Chase’s touch. It was all so much. “Ohh.”
Her eyes were nearly rolling back in her head, but she managed to watch as Giovanni pulled out his cock. He was long and thick, urgently pulsing with every beat of his heart. He stroked himself as he watched Chase finger fuck her.
Evvie shuddered. She could see the droplet of moisture on the tip of his cock, and the hot desire in his eyes.
“I don’t have a damn condom, Evvie. “ He looked around at the whole group. “I can promise I won’t spread around any diseases, but I can’t promise I won’t make her pregnant. The truth is, I don’t care if I do. I didn’t care last week, either.”
Three Men and a Woman: Evangeline (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 10