by Elle Thorpe
But Banjo was dragging Rafe out onto the dance floor as well. The four of them were all smiles, looking happy and carefree, and I imagined that between having a baby and being in college and working, they might not get much time to just be young and in love.
“We’ll be fine,” I called. I shifted Luna on my hip and then searched around for Rowe.
But he’d disappeared into the crowd. “Okay, then,” I said to Luna. “That was rude, huh?”
Luna just gave me another smile.
I wandered around the edges of the pool with the baby, showing her the lights and letting her touch my necklaces. The party was in full swing, the dance floor full of bodies, most of them a few years younger than me, making me feel kind of old. I suspected most of the guests were friends of Colt’s from high school or college. Though there were a group of older adults sitting at a table, chatting among themselves, Rowe wasn’t with them.
Luna grew fussy but then laid her head down on my shoulder, and I realized she was tired. I wandered further into the backyard, away from the dancing bodies and the loud music and rubbed the little girl’s back soothingly. Her chubby fingers twisted in my hair as we wandered beneath the starlit sky and trees full of fairy lights with a warm summer breeze washing over us.
At the far end of the yard, a shadowy figure leaned against a tree, gazing up at the stars. I stopped abruptly, watching Rowe. He had his hands shoved deep in his pockets, one foot propped up on the tree behind him. I almost didn’t want to speak. There was something reverent in the way he studied the sky, and pulling him out from wherever he’d gone in his head felt wrong. I turned quietly, intending to walk away, when Luna gave a tiny squawk.
Rowe glanced over.
“Sorry for interrupting. I didn’t realize you were down here. I wasn’t following you, I swear.” I didn’t know why I’d added that last bit. It was hardly necessary. But I did kind of feel a little bit like a Rowe stalker. I mean, I was here, at a party that I probably only agreed to attend because he told me not to. These were his friends, not mine.
“It’s fine.”
I rocked side to side, trying to settle Luna who was still squawking. “Know anything about babies?”
There was a long pause. Then, “No.”
“Fair enough. Me neither.” I bounced around awkwardly, trying to settle the fussing baby.
Rowe’s dark gaze tracked me, sending tingles down my spine. There was something about the way he looked at me that was both dark and delicious and all-consuming all at once.
“Hold her higher.”
I blinked out of my Rowe trance. “Sorry, what?”
“You’re holding her too low. If you hold up a bit higher there will be more pressure on her belly. Colt said that she gets colic.”
I wasn’t even entirely sure what colic was. But Rowe spoke with the confidence of a pro. So I shifted Luna higher, and almost instantly, she quieted.
I peered at Rowe, expecting to see a self-satisfied or smug grin on his face, taking glory in the fact he’d been right. But there was nothing but sorrow in his expression.
“I thought you didn’t know anything about babies,” I stated quietly.
Rowe pushed off the tree and walked past me. “I don’t. Not anymore.”
30
Mae
In the middle of a crowded party, Liam and Heath surrounded me. Liam pulled me tight to his side, and Heath dropped a kiss on my head. Warm feelings floated through my body… Security mixed with a healthy dose of attraction. Rowe appeared through the crowd of people, and with the glow of fairy lights dancing over his face, he crossed the room, his entire focus on me.
There was no respect for personal space as he stopped toe to toe with me, gazing down with an expression I’d never seen before. He briefly looked to the other two guys, and I felt, more than saw, their nods. Something crackled in the air between the four of us, an intense swirling of desire that was so thick it was almost tangible. Music twirled through the air, a thumping beat starting up that mirrored the one inside my chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“What are you waiting for?” Liam asked.
He grasped my chin and twisted it toward him, lowering his head and kissing my mouth. When he pulled away, he turned back to Rowe. “Kiss her.”
Tingles shot deep between my legs. “You’re okay with that?” I whispered to him.
Liam didn’t answer. I glanced at Heath and saw nothing but fire in his gaze. There was no hint of jealousy. And when he urged, “Go on, Mae,” my breath faltered in my lungs.
“You want this, too?” I asked him.
He didn’t answer either, but then Rowe was drawing me into his arms, his lips skating along my jawline and over my ear. “We all want you.”
“I can’t choose,” I protested.
“You don’t have to.”
I didn’t know who said it. The beat picked up, crashing in my ears. Thump. Thump. Thump. It drowned out their words, until all that was left was the three of them, the beat, and Rowe’s lips hovering over mine.
Thump. Thump. Thump. “Mae!”
I jerked upright, sweat beaded across my skin, sheets tangled around my bare legs. The comforter was on the floor in a heap, and the delicious dream disintegrated, leaving behind only the tingle between my thighs.
And an incessant thumping on the front door.
“Mae!”
“Coming!” I yelled back.
Not coming in the way I wanted, though.
I scrambled off the bed, yanking my nightshirt down over my ass, and hurried out of my bedroom. I jerked the door open without checking the peephole because I was pretty sure I recognized the voice.
Yep. I was right. Liam stood on the other side, eyes wide, hair slightly mussed and wearing running shorts and a tank top. My gaze immediately zeroed in on the bulge of his tanned biceps.
He slumped against the doorframe, relief smoothing out the fine lines across his brow. “Fuck. You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were dead in there. You do remember your sister’s murderer is still out there somewhere, don’t you? Assuming that is, we believe Heath when he says it wasn’t him.”
“Which we do.”
Liam shrugged.
“Liam! We do!”
“Yeah, yeah. We do. But frigging answer your phone and your door in a timely manner, will you? I was seriously afraid I was going to have to kick this door down only to find your messed-up body on the other side.”
I blinked. “Well, shit, Liam. Thanks for putting that idea in my head. I won’t sleep tonight now.”
His gaze ran over my body, lingering on my legs. “Is that what you were doing? Sleeping?”
Sleeping. Dreaming about having three men at once and them all just being fine and dandy about it. Same, same. “Yeah, I was sleeping.”
He cocked his head to one side. “Liar.”
Damn his stupid human lie detector abilities! “I was!”
“You protest too much. Why are you flushed as pink as cotton candy then?”
I could suddenly see why he was good at his job. He’d barely even asked me two questions, but just the look on his face had me feeling like I needed to tell the truth. Like we were in a courtroom and I was under oath. “Nothing. I was just hot.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “Hot dream?”
I couldn’t help mirroring his smile with one of my own. “Maybe.”
He straightened a little. “Was I in it?”
I debated over lying again, but I was obviously no good at that when it came to him. “Yes.”
He inched closer and lowered his voice like we were sharing secrets. “It was a sex dream, huh?”
“Maybe.”
He fist-pumped the air silently as I giggled at him. “Stop! You’ll wake the neighbors.” If he hadn’t already with his incessant thumping on the door.
He calmed down but then studied me again. “Tell me about it.”
“Oh, hell no. You do not want to know.” I turned around a
nd walked back into my entryway, leaving the door open for him to follow.
He was all up in my personal space in seconds, his hand running up my bare thigh. “Oh, but I do. And don’t lie because I can read you like a book. Tell me every little detail, and maybe I’ll make it come true.”
I snorted. “I don’t think so.”
He grinned. “That dirty, huh? Kinky? I can be kinky if you want me to be…”
Yeah, I didn’t doubt that. I still remembered the way he’d pinned my hands above my head in the alley as he’d made me come. But I somehow didn’t see Liam as the type to share. I’d watched Colt, Lacey, Banjo, and Rafe at the party last night. I’d seen their easy manner with each other, and the completely unashamed way they loved each other, and their daughter. Nobody at the party had even blinked an eye at them. And even I, a complete stranger, could instantly see how perfectly the four of them just fit together.
It was where my dream had stemmed from. That much was obvious. I’d been so vanilla all my life, I’d never even contemplated the idea of a threesome…let alone more. There was a reason I’d suddenly started visualizing myself surrounded by three eye-wateringly hot men. But if my dreams were anything to go by, there was a part of me that was curious about what it would be like to be wanted like that. To be someone’s missing piece. To have a bond not with just one man, who made you feel safe and loved, but with three. To have an instant family.
Hell. It would make the feelings I had for Heath and Liam and the attraction I had to Rowe a whole lot easier to reconcile.
“I was dreaming about you, yes. But you weren’t alone.”
Liam’s eyes widened. “Threesome?” he not so subtly groaned and adjusted himself in his shorts. “I can get on board with that.”
I giggled. “It wasn’t another girl. It was me, you…and two other guys.”
Liam let out a surprised cough. “Okay then. I did not see that coming from you, Valedictorian. Whatever would Principal Jones say if he knew? Wait, Principal Jones wasn’t in this dream as well, was he? He wasn’t one of the other guys? I don’t think I can get down with seventy-year-old wrinkled balls and flaccid dick.”
“Oh my God.” I burst out laughing. “Stop! You’re awful. I’m sure Principal Jones can get it up just fine.”
We both cringed and made faces at the very idea. Gag me with a spoon.
When we settled down, I pulled two bowls from the kitchen cupboard and a box of cereal from the pantry. I shook the box in Liam’s direction, and he nodded, grabbing the milk from the refrigerator for me. I smiled at the easy and familiar gesture, silently happy that he was making himself at home in my apartment. I kind of liked it. It was nice to have someone here again, and for there to be laughter in this room. That hadn’t happened since…
“Okay, are you ready to hear about who else was really in the dream?”
Liam did a little jog on the spot, shaking out his arms and legs like he was warming up for a marathon. “Okay. Give it to me quick. Rip the Band-Aid off. Who was getting jiggy in this dream with us?”
“Heath and Rowe.”
To my surprise, Liam’s mouth didn’t drop open in surprise or disgust. He pondered the idea for a minute, then said, “Okay. I can handle that.”
I paused in my cereal pouring. “Excuse me?”
He shrugged. “Honestly, if I was going to have group sex with you and I had to pick two other guys for it, they’re exactly who I would have picked.”
My mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Rowe is hot. I don’t think there’s a single human being on this planet who could truthfully say they didn’t find that man attractive. What he’s doing working in a shitty Saint View prison when he could be posing in front of a camera is beyond my comprehension.”
“Totally agree. And Heath?”
Liam shrugged. “Not saying I’m into guys. But he’s got that older mountain man, gruff and grumpy thing going on.” He held one hand up. “Assuming that is, he actually didn’t kill your sister, because I don’t care how ruggedly handsome someone is. If they’re into the stabby stabby, then it’s a deal breaker.”
I just stared at him. “The stabby stabby? Did you seriously just say that to me?”
He cringed. “Yeah, maybe that was a tad insensitive.”
I snorted on my laughter. “No. It was actually pretty funny. Nobody else would dare make a joke like that with me, you know? Everybody walks on eggshells now.”
“Lawyers aren’t much good at that. I’m a bit like a bull in a china shop.”
“I like it,” I admitted.
“And I like you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. And while there isn’t a whole lot I can do right now about getting Heath and Rowe in on the action, there are things I can do solo…”
His hand flattened on my thigh again and crept up toward my panties. Those tingles left over from my dream lit up again, urging his hand higher. But there was something my brain wouldn’t let me move past without confirmation. “But if they were here, and willing…”
His fingers reached my hips and hooked around the fabric of my panties, slowly inching it down to bare my ass. “If they were here and willing, I’d be interested to see what happened. Now hold on to the countertop. Tight.”
I sucked in a breath as he yanked my panties lower, until they pooled around my ankles. I did as I was told, holding on to the counter.
He stood behind me, drawing his fingertips up the backs of my legs, and then over my ass, until he found the hem of my nightshirt. He pushed it up, inch by agonizing inch, tugging it over my head. “Good girl,” he whispered in my ear.
My core lit up in expectation, my nipples beading. I hadn’t worn a bra to bed, so I was now completely naked, and he was still fully clothed.
But I already knew better than to try to touch him. He’d stop if I tried, and I really didn’t want him to stop. Not after that dream. I needed the relief, either by my own hands or by his. And damn it, I wanted it to be his.
“Spread your legs. And lean forward a little. I want to see all of you, Mae.”
I moaned, turned on by his dirty words and the wetness building at my core. He settled on his knees, and my own trembled at the knowledge of what he was going to do.
“Bend right over that countertop. I want to taste you.”
Without any more warning that that, his hands parted my thighs and his face pushed up between them. His tongue was one long, tantalizing slow lick from my clit and right through my slick arousal.
He buried his face at the junction my legs like he’d been born for the job, no hesitation. His fingers dug into my thighs, almost to the point of punishing, but with the sole intent of not letting me move. His tongue was a wicked pleasure, one that I had little experience with, and none in the way he was doing it now. My ex had been halfhearted about going down on me at the best of times. But Liam ate me out as if determined to get a gold medal. When my legs trembled, he stood and spun me around, claiming my mouth instead, letting me taste myself on his tongue.
It should have been weird, or gross, but on Liam, it was just sinfully hot, and I wanted more.
Like he could read my mind, he hoisted me up onto the counter, the breakfast pushed aside and forgotten. And then he was laying me out, as if I was the meal. The stone countertop was cold at my back, but Liam’s mouth was hot against my clit, and that warmth radiated through my entire body. On autopilot, one hand drifted to the back of Liam’s head, the other to my breast. I rolled my nipple between two fingers, pinching it into a stiff peak that begged for more attention. I stroked my other hand through the lengths of his hair to stop myself from pushing down on the back of his head and holding him to me like I really wanted to.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who wanted that. Liam’s hand covered mine and planted it firmly on his head, encouraging me to hold him in place.
“Wanna fucking drown in you, Mae,” he mumbled against my core.
When he was sure I�
�d received the memo, he removed his hand and instead used it to drive me higher. His fingers slipped up inside me, two from the very get-go, because I was so wet and ready for him. I writhed on the counter, my hips moving with a mind of their own, bucking and lifting off the surface, while my hand pressed down on his head, providing resistance to the ache growing inside me. His fingers started a slow pump, in and out, soft at first but then with a growing intensity that matched the need rolling through my body, demanding relief.
I drew my legs up so my heels dug into the countertop, my knees alternating between flopping wide to give him access to every inch of me, and clenching tight around his head as my orgasm tried to drag me under.
“Faster,” I urged. “God, Liam. Harder.”
He groaned, the noise muffled by his lips and tongue flush with my pussy. But his fingers picked up the tempo, fucking me with abandon until I was screaming his name. A bowl was knocked onto the floor. It shattered, but I barely noticed and I certainly didn’t care. The need to come was overpowering, and I teetered on the edge.
“I need more,” I moaned desperately. “I need your cock.”
A third finger did the trick instead. I hurtled over the precipice and free fell into nothingness. The room swirled in a mass of colors behind my eyes, and sensation blocked out everything else. The orgasm roared like a lion released from its cage, and I bellowed Liam’s name right along with it. He stroked my G-spot and clit simultaneously, while my toes curled and muscles clenched and relaxed around him, over and over until I was completely exhausted.
Eventually, I caught my breath, and my knees fell wide, releasing Liam from between my thighs. He stood slowly, reluctantly, and stared down at the junction of my thighs, still swollen and pulsing from being so thoroughly and utterly devoured. His lips shined with my arousal.