Love of the Game - The Complete Collection (Box Set)

by Shayne McClendon

  Dex’s expression grew intense. “Another couple of years went by. We were drafted, the three of us playing on the same team and truly talking again. We were desperate for you, panicked to know what had happened to you after everything we’d put you through. Both of us were ready to fuck up our friendship with Hart and hire a private investigator.”

  “We’d already researched a couple when we got the worst call of our lives from your mother, Harley.” The pain on Beck’s face was a physical thing as he stroked her hair back from her face and rubbed his thumb over the scar on her temple gently.

  “Regina told us you were in the hospital coming out of a coma. She said she was still angry with us but for reasons that would become clear in time, you needed us to be there. It was time for us to be the men she still believed we could be. We were on a flight out two hours later.”

  “The first time we…saw you, oh God. I wanted to die. Beck wanted to die. We didn’t know what to do, how to help you. Your parents brought in the best doctors to consult and we waited. You started screaming for your daughter and I’d never heard anyone so terrified in my life. Peter ran by with Alexis in his arms and suddenly, nothing mattered but you and that child.”

  “Beck literally passed the fuck out and went after Hart when he came around. It took us both to restrain him. Bailey walked right up to him, slapped him across the face…again, and told him to get a fucking grip.”

  A grin worked its way over Beck’s face. “Your best friend said you loved us before we were big, bad basketball players. That there was a time you could have whipped our asses at any sport. She said that for once, it was going to be about you and if we didn’t like it, we could all take a flying fucking leap off the roof.”

  Dex’s hands smoothed along her bathing suit at her low back, just inside it, across the slope of her ass. Beck played with her hair.

  “We underestimated your ability to resist our humility and spectacular charm.” She laughed at that. There had never been any doubt about their charm. “Later that day, Dex confessed that he’d only concentrated on both of us. That I had my chance with you and pissed all over it, now he’d never have a chance to love you.”

  Harley stroked her hand over Dex’s face and he leaned into the touch as he always did.

  “I told him to forget about me because I had two years with you, held your heart in the palm of my hand, and crushed it. I hurt you, humiliated you to the point that you didn’t even trust me about Lexie, or ask me for a single dime to help you.”

  He took a deep shuddering breath. “Dex loved you as much as I did and he never did anything but cover for my stupid ass. He deserved the chance to love you without me trying to grab you back for myself. For months, he paced, he worked out, he ran all the fucking time, and barely ate.”

  Beck gave her a crooked smile. “I’d been there. I knew exactly what was making him crazy. Then one day he comes home and sleeps for like twelve hours. We hung out, watched a movie, and he made dinner. It was the first time in years I’d seen him completely relaxed.”

  He stroked his thumb over her lower lip and she barely stopped herself from kissing it.

  “I knew then and didn’t say a fucking word because he’d done so much for me, given up so much for me. After I screwed him over by running you to ground at sixteen when I’d given my word to wait. Then he disappeared after we won the Championship to celebrate with you. I wished I was with you, too. I didn’t want to be alone anymore, Harley.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, remembering how lost he’d looked as she and Lexie left the arena.

  He shook his head. “That was when he told me you’d always loved us both. That you still did and it was tearing you up inside.”

  Beck leaned forward and kissed her, lightly stroked his lips over hers, before resting their foreheads together. “I know I don’t deserve anything from you, Harley. I know you’re too good for me but I really want a chance to love you right, to prove to you I’m a better man than the one you remember.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “That was a lot to absorb. I feel a little overwhelmed. Can I take a minute to process? Float with me?” They lifted their heads and grinned at her.

  As kids, they’d floated on their backs in her parents’ pool, without rafts. Just floated and talked together. Harley could even sleep like that. Her record was just over two hours. It was one of the happiest childhood memories for all of them.

  Their hands grasped hers and they flipped her out in the middle of the pool on her back. They held hands and soaked up the sun for a long time.

  Finally, she lifted out of the water. “I have questions.”

  They moved to the steps again and reclined back with their elbows and butts on the concrete steps, Harley in the middle. Beck and Dex looked at her, waiting.

  “This isn’t some game is it? Like, you tried it in one combination and you’re curious about the other way? I’m not sure I’d be opposed, even then. I’d just like your honesty.”

  “No, Harley. No game. I’ll never be able to wipe that moment out of your mind. I’m sorry.”

  “I want you to know something I’ve never told anyone. A few days later, after driving and crying and cursing you. When I’d scrubbed my body raw a dozen times, you want to know the one thing that really pissed me off, Beck?” He looked at her and she closed her eyes. “How gorgeous you looked when I caught you, you shit. That made it so much worse.”

  Dex laughed and Beck’s jaw dropped.

  Harley turned to Dex. “I only cup-checked you because I knew you were the only one who had a chance of catching me once I found what I knew I was going to find upstairs.”

  “Harley, when you jumped all five of those steps and hit the ground running faster than I’d ever seen you run, it was a thing of beauty. Even without my balls in my throat, there’s no way I would have caught you that day.”

  That made her smile.

  “Are we talking something short-term, long-term, or what? Is this a curiosity thing?”

  “Hell, no,” the men said together.

  Dex’s eyes drilled into hers. “Harley, I haven’t so much as looked at another woman since I showed up at the hospital in North Carolina. I love you with everything inside me and I’m yours as long as you’ll have me, which I hope is a really long fucking time…like sixty years. If you wanted to trade up for two forty-year-olds at that point, I wouldn’t exactly blame you.”

  Beck sighed heavily. “I don’t expect you to believe me, Harley. I made a commitment to you once and I didn’t hold up my end. I’m a different man now and I have been for a long time.”

  He sat up and raked his hands through his hair. She thought again how beautiful they were.

  “I love you and I want you more than anything in my life. That wasn’t clear to me until the day you stood in the door of our room and I saw a look on your face I could never bear to see again. I knew I’d just lost the greatest thing to happen to me.”

  She worried her lower lip between her teeth. “I don’t want to wonder. You both travel a lot and you always will. I’m not going to check on you. Either you want to be with me, or you don’t. Act like men…don’t lie to me or sneak around. It isn’t fair and I deserve better as your friend.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Are the two of you absolutely certain this isn’t going to fuck up your friendship?”

  Dex grabbed her and swam to the middle of the pool. “Harley, you worry about everything and everyone around you. You think too much. It’s why you get anxiety headaches when Beck and I are in the same room with you for more than an hour. You’re trying to fit this situation, a relationship between the three of us, into a tidy little box.”

  Beck smoothed her hair back from her face. “It isn’t going to fit, honey. I promise we won’t hurt you and we won’t hurt each other. We’ve learned our lessons and grown up. Let us take care of you, let us do the worrying for a change, let us love you, Harley.”

  She couldn’t touch the bottom
of the pool. Dex held her to him and kissed her deeply, lovingly, stroking over her body until she moaned against him. He kissed down her neck and cupped her breast in one large palm.

  Another pair of hands on her shoulders startled her and Dex whispered, “You know Beck and you love him, Harley. Everything is okay.” He kissed her again and turned her in the water.

  Beck stood inches away. Dex held her against his body with his hand flat on her stomach and Harley gripped his forearm tightly. He slid her hair out of the way and kissed her shoulder.

  Reaching out, Beck stroked her cheek and she whispered, “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Leaning forward, he kissed her lightly and she returned it nervously.

  Her hand tightened on Dex’s arm and he slid the other over her hip, slipping across her mound to her inner thigh and back again.

  She reached back and grabbed his hip to pull him closer. His erection was hard against her ass. Flexing her fingers, she held him there. She needed contact with the man who’d loved her so well over the past year as she tried to mend the bridge with Beck.

  He had caused her so much pain but there was no denying she still loved and wanted him.

  Staring into blue eyes she’d avoided since her accident, she lifted her other hand and slid her palm along the back of Beck’s neck. Gently tugging, he came to take the kiss she offered. Her fingers fisted in his hair as she controlled it, sucking his tongue, and nibbling with her teeth.

  Harley kissed him for a long time, learning him again, and realized he was more involved. Beck was focused on her, moving as she moved, giving her the power.

  The eroticism of the moment was astounding.

  When Dex slid his hand into her bathing suit, stroking her clit to the rhythm of her hand flexing on his hip, she deepened her kiss with Beck. She held him tighter, her need for both of them causing her entire body to heat.

  As she pulled back, she whispered, “I missed you, Beck.”

  “I missed you, too. So fucking much, Harley.”

  Dex’s hand moved knowingly over her and she felt her orgasm building so much faster than usual. She rested her head on his shoulder and he trailed his lips up the column of her neck. He slowly rocked his hips against her, his cock pressing along the cleft of her ass.

  Her heart was racing and she was breathing too fast. Then Beck cupped her breasts, flicked his thumbs over her nipples through the fabric of her suit, and she came between them with a gasp.

  Two fingers slipped inside her and Dex slowly stroked her through the climax. When her body loosened, she swallowed painfully.

  “Dex, I feel unfaithful to you right now.”

  His hand slipped away and they turned her in their arms. Beck held her back to his chest and Dex consumed her mouth until she whimpered.

  “I’m right here, Harley. You’re not being unfaithful. You love us and we love you. We’re sharing, not stealing. You belong with both of us…you always have.”

  His hands slid beneath the bathing suit top and lifted it over her head. He cupped her breasts and took turns sucking her nipples firmly.

  Beck worked to deconstruct her sanity. He caught her clit between two long fingers, stroking down so it rubbed against the point where they met his palm and circling over the entrance of her pussy with the tips. Darting just inside to tease the hypersensitive nerves.

  Releasing her nipple with a soft pop, Dex said gently, “You’re trying so hard not to come.” His fingers pinched and rolled the taut peaks. “I can tell how much you want to. Beck’s touch on your clit feels just as good as you imagined but you’re fighting it.”

  She inhaled sharply and he kissed her. “Did he stroke into your pussy?” She nodded. “I know how much you love that. You missed Beck for a long time…” He bent to suck her nipple between his lips. “He’s here now. Let him make you feel good.” Kissing up her neck, he set his lips at her ear. “Come all over Beck’s fingers and let us show you everything, Harley.”

  When it claimed her, she wondered if her body would shake apart. Her hands moved to Beck’s neck behind her, to Dex’s neck in front of her and she moaned.

  They pressed her with the fronts of their bodies, their heads on either side of her face, and whispered soothing words to bring her down gently.

  Beck’s voice was rough. “I needed to make you feel good after so much pain. I love you, Harley.”

  Dex was relaxed, sensual. “You are so beautiful and I love you, Harley. Let go of everything and let us make you happy.” Small kisses just below her ear were followed by, “Every fantasy you ever had about the two of us…we’re going to make them your reality.”

  “Dex…that could take some time.” Her honesty made them chuckle.

  “Fortunately, we happen to have a lot of time on our hands.” He kissed her soundly and turned her around to face Beck.

  Her legs wrapped around his waist and she laid her head on his shoulder. He carried her from the pool and Dex dropped a towel around her. He threw another one over a chair and Beck sat down with her over his lap.

  “Eat, Harley.” Without opening her eyes, she accepted the piece of pineapple and chewed slowly. “We’re going to feed you before we take you inside and have our wicked way with you.”

  She smiled as Beck continued to place small pieces of fruit against her lips.

  “Your nipples are so hard. Are you thinking about what’s about to happen?” Harley nodded with a blush. “Have you thought about it before?”

  “I read a book in high school. It was about ménage…two men with the same woman. Through the entire thing, I imagined the two of you.” Harley felt the heat of her skin but she opened her eyes and met the blue ones staring down at her. “I didn’t always like myself very much, Beck.”

  His hand cupped her cheek. “I messed up the natural order of things when I went after you. I was never supposed to be greedy where you were concerned because you never belonged to only me. I bet your fantasies caused you years of unnecessary guilt.” The smile he gave her was gentle.

  “How can you just accept this about me?”

  He flattened his palm over her chest. “I believe you are the most loving person I’ve ever known and there is more than enough love in this heart for both of us.” Tracing his fingertip over the top of her breast, Beck circled it around her nipple and never took his eyes off her face.

  Dex crouched beside the chair and smoothed his hand up and down her thigh. “We need to rinse the chlorine off. Are you still hungry?” She shook her head and he smiled. “Then come here.” He held out his hands and Harley took them so he could pull her to her feet.

  Instead of allowing her to walk, he picked her up again and walked into the house. Harley watched Beck follow behind them. Stepping directly into an enormous shower, Dex sat on a bench along the tile wall, and kept her on his lap with her back against his chest. She let her legs dangle along the outside of his knees.

  She felt a flutter of nerves as Beck stepped close and worked the swimsuit bottoms off her lower body. He used a handheld shower massager to rinse her skin of the pool chemicals.

  “You’re more beautiful than I remember.”

  “I’m…scarred now and I have stretch marks.”

  Harley’s hands moved to cover her belly and Beck went to his knees in front of her. Gently moving her hands, he kissed across her tummy, over the scars from her accident, his hands tracing her calves and thighs.

  He separated the lips of her pussy and sucked her clit into the wet heat of his mouth, making her arch toward him with a sharp inhale. Dex held her from behind, his erection hot on her low back, his hands playing with her breasts.

  Beck raised his head. “I don’t see scars, Harley. I see a woman who survives…no matter what.”

  Two fingers stroked into her pussy, curling and stimulating the spot Dex showed her the first day they were together. She rolled her head against his shoulder and he pinched her nipples as Beck took his time exploring the parts of her he’d never seemed to notice before.


  As if he read her mind, he said, “I never made love to you, Harley. It was all about my need to get off.” His cheek rested on her thigh. “I was so rough, even your first time when you needed me to be gentle. I remember you cried and I took you again right after, knowing you loved me, always using it to get what I wanted.”

  He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “I can never take those moments back that make me ashamed but I can give you new memories, happier ones. Maybe over time, they’ll make the others fade.”

  Harley reached down to stroke Beck’s hair. “I didn’t know you were in trouble. If I’d been older, more experienced, I might have known how to help you. I’m sorry I didn’t help you, Beck. You deserved better from me.” Her hands cupped his face and her thumbs traced cheeks wet with tears. “I forgive you for the past. Forgive me for not understanding.”

  “You don’t know, you can’t know, what you’ve done for me. Thank you, Harley.” He pressed his face to her stomach and purged the pain and guilt. She whispered to him and felt Dex’s tears on her shoulder.

  They sat like that for a long time and Harley felt as if a weight was lifted from her heart.

  When Beck was wrung out, she put her hands under his face and lifted it. “I’ve been achingly in love with you both since I was fourteen. In my mind, it was never either/or. It was always both. I was afraid to admit the truth, afraid you would hate me.”

  She took a deep breath. “Other men have kissed me and touched me but in all my life, only the two of you have made love to me.”

  Beck was unable to hide his surprise. Harley glanced back at Dex. “You are such a gentleman.” He winked. “Let’s start fresh. No more regrets, no shame, no hurt. We lived the past, we know the past…now we need to put it behind us. I want that more than you know.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  They pulled Harley to her feet and hugged her hard, holding each other’s shoulders to press completely into her. Then they took turns kissing and washing her body.

  As Dex stepped under the spray, Beck guided her back to the bench and returned to his knees in front of her. “I need to taste you, to feel you come in my mouth.” He pushed gently on her inner thighs to make room for his broad shoulders and lowered his mouth to her folds.