by Treva Harte
“Fine. So Jeff is your perfect dom.”
“Well, for right now he is. Perfect for me. I like him, Sarah. He’s brilliant. We talk—you know, even outside of bed. He makes me feel safe. You make me feel safe too.” Cole’s hands snaked up to circle her wrists, almost like manacles. His voice shifted from smooth to urgent. “Don’t make me choose between you.”
That was so Cole. Of course he didn’t want to pick if he could get it all.
“I’m coming with you, Cole. We both are. I can’t promise any more than that.”
“That’s all I’m asking for right now.” He looked past her shoulder. “Here comes Jeff, just like he promised. Sarah.”
“Hmm?”
“I can count on his promises. Just like I count on yours.”
“Shut up. You won this round, all right?”
Jeff honked the horn. She didn’t like his impatience, but he had a point. The snow was coming down harder. They didn’t need to get stuck on the road halfway up a mountain.
“Sarah.”
“What?”
“You like him too.”
“No, I don’t.” At least I shouldn’t.
“Sarah.”
“Oh, all right. I’m starting to realize I want to have sex with him. I just don’t want to accept it yet.”
She expected a little more reaction to that than she got.
Cole pulled her along toward the truck. “We can talk about that.”
“Not in front of him we can’t.” She tried to haul herself up, scrabbling desperately at the seat. It was just too high.
The blond fucker next to her laughed right before he helped push her into the cabin of the truck.
Chapter Six
“An artificial tree? An artificial tree in the middle of a forest?” Sarah helped drag the box out of the closet anyhow. “That’s just unnatural.”
“You can go play outdoorswoman and tramp out in a snowstorm to chop down a tree. I’ll call Search and Rescue in a few hours to find you…after the mulled cider break.” Cole poked at the decorations box. “Damn, Jeff. You’re blowing the whole stereotype about tasteful gay decorating. What the hell is this purple and red thing?”
“My nephew’s Christmas present to me when he was in first grade. He made it himself, so what could I do? I figure his parents heaved a sigh of relief when they unloaded it on me. You don’t have to hang it on the tree.”
Sarah looked at Jeff. Oh, yes they did. Apparently he had a fondness for purple and red—or his family.
Whatever she’d expected once they reached the house, it wasn’t picking out previously used tinsel from a small container. Or the smell of warm cider in the air. It was like home.
Of course, the snow was already piled high enough that it would be suicidal to leave anytime soon. So much for her big plan to get out if she needed to. She should have known better. As if the mountains in December always gave you perfect driving conditions.
So she’d just enjoy the homey atmosphere. Smell the food cooking, taste it when it was ready, feel the warmth of the fireplace. She sat cross-legged on the floor and handed ornaments to Cole.
And tried not to think about the two men in the house with her. About Cole, laughing as he decided just the right spot and ornament for each branch—they’d be at this until after New Year’s at this rate—or Jeff, with his hair ruffled, looking suddenly younger and happier as he passed out mugs of mulled cider.
She could like them much too much this way. Both of them. That would be such a bad idea.
Cole glanced over at her and, once he had her attention, stroked the underside of his lower lip with his thumb very slowly. Then he glanced down. He was looking at her breasts, wasn’t he? She sucked in a breath. When his head came back up, he winked.
Whoo boy. All that Christmas cheer was up in smoke. She was burning. She bent over the ornament box to hide her face.
She had her own bedroom. As far as she knew, they all did. The ski cabin wasn’t as big as Jeff’s townhome, but that didn’t mean it was small. There was room for everyone, no matter where they ended up.
Jeff’s room had a huge bed.
She hadn’t wanted to think about sleeping arrangements, but she couldn’t help it. What had Cole meant about wanting them both? With Cole, it had to be kinky. Just how kinky? She’d first thought he’d just meant he wanted to be with her and Jeff, but maybe he’d meant…well, be with them. Together. All at once.
She’d thought sharing Cole on a visitation schedule would be impossible back when she’d simplemindedly thought that was the plan. If it wasn’t…how did you do that? How would the guys want to do it? She had a good imagination, but this wouldn’t be fantasy, and they’d know a lot of ways. There’d be three bodies. Two cocks…one female.
Whooooooooo boy.
That was when she realized how much she hated the idea of passing Cole back and forth. But having him right in between Jeff and her was entirely different. In fact, that idea was too arousing for her own good when she was trying to act calm in the middle of someone else’s living room.
Flashes of two naked men danced in her head. They’d look so different, but each so sexy.
God. She couldn’t just sit here glassy-eyed. Act calm. Act calm.
Sarah blindly reached out and almost knocked over her cider mug.
The silence in the room made her realize the two men had stopped talking. They were looking at her. Damn it, they could all talk constantly most of the time, but now they had to stop and watch her self-combust. She still felt like she was burning up and could only imagine what she looked like. They weren’t idiots. They’d see exactly what she was thinking.
So much for calm.
Jeff saw her catch the mug as if her fingers suddenly didn’t work. The cider sloshed onto her wrist. Was this when reality would finally hit about what was coming next?
Damn Cole for getting us into this.
Sarah was naive. He could see why Cole found that fascinating. Tempting. He was tempted too.
Cole wasn’t going to get hurt. Sarah might have told herself she was here to take care of Cole, but she was wrong about his need for protection. When it came to sex, the boy didn’t have a naive bone in his body. He might not protect himself physically because he didn’t want to, but he’d always been a challenge mentally. It had taken weeks before Jeff had gotten him past just the sex. Cole might not have known what it meant to have a BDSM relationship that was more than sex, one that meant you surrendered everything, but he was learning. What Jeff could pull out of him now in any session—Cole didn’t trust easily, but he trusted Jeff.
Which left the problem of Sarah. What did Cole want from her? It couldn’t be permanent. Not with someone who had Cole’s needs. Jeff was the one who understood them, fed them, made Cole want more. Sarah didn’t fit there. The more Jeff saw of Sarah, the more sure he was Cole couldn’t stay vanilla for the girl.
Jeff had thought he could play along until Cole got tired of being gentle with someone who needed that gentleness. Who seemed to be attracted to them both without wanting to acknowledge it. Jeff was being forced to admit he could even enjoy the situation while it lasted. If she were different, he might actually start thinking of a future for all of them.
That didn’t seem possible, which left Cole and him together eventually. What would happen to her when they stopped playing? Jeff caught himself. He used to not call Sarah by name because he wished she didn’t exist. Now it was because Sarah was the only her who mattered to him. As stupid as the want was, he was starting to want Sarah to stay.
Fucking Cole. After telling himself he could leave women alone because no one would understand he needed men too, Cole had messed him up. Somehow, he’d dragged Jeff into caring about Sarah and how the three of them could work. How the hell had that happened? By poking at Jeff’s protective instincts, of course. Did Cole know him as well as he knew Cole? If so, Cole knew Jeff’s need to protect the other member of their group—a need as much a part of him as ever
ything else that made him a dom—would kick into life when he saw her lost expression.
She had no idea what she was getting into. And he was idiot enough to worry about that.
Three was a crowd, and someone was going to get hurt. That someone was always the one most vulnerable to hurt. Was she afraid now? Realizing she was headed someplace she didn’t belong?
Then she looked up at him, and he saw she wasn’t scared. Anything but. He couldn’t help responding to the desire in her face.
What if Cole had done the impossible? What if he’d found the one woman who might just get it?
Thick, hot lust burned away everything else he was feeling. She could belong to him. Them. But he needed her to belong to him right now.
“Cole, go away.” His voice rasped.
“Where?” Thank God Cole wasn’t asking why. Jeff wasn’t ready to answer that. Fortunately Cole was a sub and didn’t ask the obvious question first. “We’re snowed in.”
“I don’t care. Sarah and I need to get some things worked out.”
Instead of pretending innocence and obedience, Cole gave a knowing smile.
Sarah’s eyes widened even more, but she didn’t say anything. She wasn’t into pretending either. Her obvious interest opened more possibilities. If she was truly ready and interested in more than vanilla, that might change things. He’d love to find out.
“All right. But make sure they stay worked out.” Cole brushed his lips against Jeff’s cheek and then nipped at his chin. “I want to keep you both right here.”
Cole leaned over to give Sarah a kiss before he strolled out of the room. Within seconds the television down in the den emitted a low roar.
Sarah still wasn’t talking.
“Well?” Jeff asked. “Have you figured everything out yet?”
He almost smiled when Sarah shook her head. She had guts too. He hated to admit when he didn’t know something.
“Maybe we should start by talking. Just talk. Although I wouldn’t mind more.” It had been a long time since he’d needed to persuade someone to have sex. Or to trust him.
“I need to talk. I wouldn’t mind more either.” Her chin went up, as if she expected a punch first.
“You know Cole wants you and me. How do you feel about that?”
“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure how far he wants to take that keep you both thing. I don’t think I’m ready for a threesome.” She swallowed. “But there are alternatives.”
“Really?” Jeff couldn’t remember when he’d ever been this absorbed in someone else’s thought processes outside academia. Definitely never while he was thinking about fucking. “Give me your top alternative.”
Miss Innocence.
“Cole likes a crowd. You know. He likes people to watch him getting fucked. You don’t.”
Jeff sucked in a breath, hiding shock and a sudden desire to laugh. He hadn’t expected that. “True enough.”
“Would…would you mind if I watched?”
“That’s all you’d want?”
“I’m trying not to presume here.” A tiny smile changed her face to mischievous.
So she wasn’t quite as nervous as she acted. Good. After handling Cole, he knew how to deal with mock innocence.
“So that’s not all you’d want, Sarah? Is it or isn’t it?” He let a little dom edge into his voice.
Her face relaxed into a full smile before she said in a remarkably demure voice, “To start, it might be. I’d have to find out. I discovered I like listening to you together. I probably would like looking at you too. If you don’t mind.”
If he didn’t mind?
“I like your act. But I don’t buy it.” Jeff leaned forward and took a chance. He wanted to believe she wasn’t like his ex-wife. That she wouldn’t be afraid or angry when he moved on her the way he planned. “I think you want more already. You just don’t know how to ask.”
He pulled her up on her feet and closer to him. He didn’t kiss her. Not this time. The bite into the fleshy part of her lower lip made her yelp and press closer to him.
They squeezed together, as close as two people could with clothes on. He wished they didn’t have the damned clothes. Then he slipped his hand under the waistline of her pants. Found her soft, silky panties wet while on his way to something even wetter and softer.
Sarah, Sarah. I like this. I missed it. Damn that Cole. How the hell did he know this could happen?
She slid her palms up under his T-shirt and shifted her pelvis so it pushed against his hand. He forgot what he was thinking. He forgot to think at all.
Was this what Cole meant by keeping it simple? To touch. To have someone touch back. To press his fingers against a warm pussy and feel a female body buck against him. To stretch those fingers inside her and feel her tremble. He braced one hand on her hip and shoved harder against her pussy with the other. She bucked again.
“So pretty.” His voice didn’t sound like his own. “I want to touch you until you come right here.”
She gave a little mewl and twitched under his hand. He unzipped her pants to twist his palm against her. Wet. Very wet. He liked that.
“And someday soon I think you’ll want to do more than watch. I’m not sure if you’re a sub, baby, but we could see. I could put you over my knee and spank you until your ass is flaming. Or we both try that on Cole. Or I could tie you up and take you both together.”
“Oh my God!”
“Do you know which scene appeals to you more?” He inserted his finger, pulled it out.
“Any of them. All of them. Please do that again. Please.” He did, and she clutched at his finger, not wanting him to take it out, her body begging for more.
What would she do if he did the same thing to her ass? He swallowed, fighting the images in his head. Just thinking about it made him raw and hungry, wanting to have her moan while he had more than his fingers inside her. He could imagine the heat and the tightness, and that was almost enough to make him drive into her like a teenager. She was crying, just a little.
“I…just…fucking…want you to come.” She was too new to this to be ordered into an orgasm. But he was damn close, and he wasn’t going without her. As he watched her legs scrabble helplessly, trying to hold her up, he could feel the pulsing of his own cock, angry and desperate for release. When was the last time he’d fought not to spill before his sub? When had he last been ready to come just from talking about what might happen? He caught his lip with his teeth, fighting the sudden surge of desire washing over him. He unzipped his pants, still fighting the need to push inside her without finesse and come.
“Jeff!” She gulped his name as her face contorted.
And damn, she unraveled in his hands.
“Jeff,” she sobbed it, still shaking.
He came, hard and uncontrolled, his semen spurting out all over that quivering little belly of hers.
When the hell had that happened last? Not since… He wasn’t sure it had happened even when he was still learning how to be a dom.
“Hell. I want to do that again,” he rasped. It had been too fast. He wanted more.
“Knew you’d think so.” Cole’s voice cut through the haze. “Very, very sexy. I like.”
“Fuck!” Jeff pushed Sarah away just far enough to get a look at his boy. His nosy, disobedient boy. “You were supposed to be somewhere else.”
“Well, I’m back.”
Cole was going to regret saying that. By the grin on his face, he knew it and didn’t care.
“And I’m leaving.” Sarah tried to pull away, and without thinking, Jeff tightened his hold on her hip.
“No.”
“You said we had to work things out. But I don’t think this is really the thing we need to work out.” He could feel her wetness on the palm of his hand, but he could see the confusion and anger in her face.
“The both of you are a lot of work.” Jeff knew that wasn’t going to smooth things over, but he couldn’t help saying it.
“Well, you
don’t have to do any work with me.” Sarah tried to step back.
“You didn’t really think I was going to be left out of this, did you?” Cole stepped forward, neatly trapping Sarah between the two of them.
“No, Jeff thought I was going to be left out. But his hormones got confused for a minute.” Sarah pushed backward now, still working to get away.
“I don’t think so.” Jeff took his hand from her pussy and put it to his mouth. He licked. “Nope. I’m not confused at all. I was finger fucking a sexy woman. You. You’re very tasty, by the way.”
Cole snorted.
“I’d slug you both if I could.” Sarah’s voice was tight. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I want you both happy.” Cole kissed the back of her neck.
“Because I want to keep you and keep fucking you. We might as well admit we’re interested,” Jeff said at almost the same time.
“Interested doesn’t mean we should. Or that it will make me happy.” Sarah’s breath came a little faster, undercutting her words. Jeff tried not to smile.
“Doesn’t mean we couldn’t, though.” Jeff kissed the side of her neck and felt her pulse beating rapidly. “Does it, pretty Sarah? I know you don’t want to really leave.”
“Guys, the two of you are rubbing against me, and I can’t think!” Her voice trembled as much as her body. “I don’t know how to handle this. Like… I don’t know how on any level.”
“Sweetheart, let us take care of it. We’ll handle it all for you.” Cole’s tongue traced the hollow of her throat. “Please? I won’t hurt you. No one will hurt you. I swear.”
She licked her lips, and Jeff realized he should say something—but he couldn’t. What happened next was suddenly too important, and he was terrified he’d fuck it up.
He shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t. Sarah looked at him, tears in her eyes, and he knew he did. Too much.
“Jeff, don’t make a fool of me.” She barely got the words out.
Jeff almost couldn’t talk past the tightness in his throat. “I’d never do that, Sarah. Ever. Can we try to make things work for you? The minute you say—”