by Jane Jamison
“I don’t know.” She wanted to. The brief time they’d had together had grown the connection between them that even now was as strong as ever.
“I know you haven’t asked my opinion, but—”
“You’re going to give it to me anyway.” Kelly smiled as she took another sip.
“You know me so well.” Lilly set her cup on the coffee table and shifted so she faced Kelly. “I know what they are. It was hard to comprehend and even harder to accept, but I’ve made my peace with it.”
“Your peace? What does that mean?” Could she find peace with what they were?
“Let me ask you this. Before you saw the other side of them, were you falling for them?”
She knew Lilly well, and Lilly knew her just as well. “Can I plead the Fifth?”
“Nope.” She raised her hand in the air. “You swear to tell the truth, so help you Oprah.”
“No. I wasn’t falling for them.”
Lilly rocked backward, stunned by her answer. “Really? You weren’t? You could’ve fooled me.”
Kelly looked into Lilly’s piercing green eyes. “I wasn’t falling for them because I’d already fallen. I think that happened the minute I met them.”
“Wow.” Lilly took her cup away from her just as she started to take another drink. “Then why aren’t you answering their calls? They’ve called you every hour on the hour for the past two days. I bet your voice mail is full. Look around you. They’ve sent more gifts and more flowers.”
“That doesn’t change what they are.”
“Kelly, don’t you get it? That’s my point. What they are doesn’t change the fact of who they are, either. They’re the men you fell in love with, and they’re still those men.”
“So I’m just supposed to go ahead and accept two werewolves and a vampire into my life?”
Lilly shrugged. “If that’s what it takes to have three men who adore you and want you in your life, then yes. Take them for what they are and hold on tight, because, girlfriend, love doesn’t come along for everyone. You hit the jackpot by loving three men.”
Kelly lifted her gaze to her friend’s. “But what about living a normal life? What about children?” She’d always wanted children for as long as she could remember.
“Who says you have to give that up? Besides, what’s going to be normal about living with three men? It might be a great thing. You could have your own reality show called Brother Husbands.”
Somehow Lilly could always get a laugh out of her. “You’re a crazy woman, you know that?”
Lilly threw her hands up. “You’re calling me crazy? Hey, I’m not the one who fell in love with a couple of werewolves and a vampire.” She shoved Kelly on the leg. “But if you let them slip away, then you really will be the crazy one. Promise me that you’ll take the next call. After all, they did save our lives. Don’t we owe them that much?”
Kelly narrowed her eyes. “Are they paying you to get me to talk to them?”
Lilly snatched up Kelly’s phone as it rang again and held it out for her. “If they do, it’ll be in chocolate. Now answer your damn phone.”
* * * *
Although Kelly had taken the phone as Lilly had urged her to do, she’d let the call go unanswered. It was still two more days before she had answered their call and was ready to see Damon, Jude, and Riker. She’d spent many hours going back and forth over what she wanted. She tried to put what they were behind her, but every time she thought she’d managed to do so, her conviction wouldn’t last.
She yearned for them. Not only with her body but with her mind and heart as well. But she had to choose between having them in her life and accepting what they were, or not having them at all. She finally realized that to do so, she’d need more answers.
Kelly heard the knock on her door, took a deep breath, and opened it. Damon, Jude, and Riker smiled at her, and her heart flipped over. “Hi.”
Riker’s smile turned into a grin while Jude simply nodded and Damon responded with his own soft “Hi.” They eased by her and into the living room then stood until she took a seat on the sofa.
Damon and Riker sat on the edge of the cushions with their hands clasped in front of them. Jude took a stand by the hallway, his face calm and composed.
Kelly glanced at all three men before speaking. “Thanks for coming.”
Riker’s grin had faltered, but now it was back. “We’re just glad you finally decided to let us come over.”
She nodded, unhappy with the awkwardness between them. “I still can’t believe what I saw. I mean, I do believe, but still…”
Damon dropped his gaze to the floor then raised it to look directly into her eyes. “We’re not thrilled at the way you found out about us, but it would’ve happened soon enough. We want you, Kelly. I think you know that.”
She did. She could feel their desire for her in waves rolling off their bodies. Her pussy tightened at the sensation, and her body screamed for her to open her arms and her legs to them. “I do. But is that the way it is? Is it always three men for one woman?”
Jude chuckled, for the first time breaking his expressionless composure. “Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But we’re kind of an odd trio, what with two of us being werewolves and the other a vampire.”
She heard the words. She hadn’t been drugged or dreaming or out of her mind. Damon and Riker were werewolves, and Jude was a vampire. “Tell me about Tess. Is she dead? She’s a vampire, right?”
Jude thrust out his chin. “She was, and now she’s dead in every sense of the word. As we vampires call it, she went back to the ground.”
Should she rejoice at her death? Yet she felt only sorrow. “She loved you three. She told me. In the end I think that’s what killed her.”
“We never encouraged her and never had anything physical with her. I think she only wanted Damon and me because we were a package deal with Jude.”
“At least she had taste.”
Jude’s remark gave everyone a brief smile. But Kelly needed more answers. “How is it that you can come out in the sunlight? I thought vampires burned alive if they came out during the day.”
“That’s one of many misconceptions about us. In truth, only young vampires, those who have lived as a vampire for thirteen years or less, have to hide from the daylight. For old folks like me, the sun has no effect.”
Damon took her hand, and within a second of his skin touching hers, she had one of her questions answered. The now-familiar sizzle burst into her. But she still needed answers to other questions.
“I have to know.” She searched their faces. “Have you ever killed anyone? Should I be worried about getting hurt?”
Damon squeezed her hand even as he winced at her questions. “Let me answer the second question first. You never have to worry about any one of us hurting you. I can promise you that. We’ve waited a long time to find the woman who could love us in spite of what we are.”
“You’re the one woman who would want the three of us equally,” added Riker. He’d grown serious as soon as she’d asked the first question. “We’re devoted to you whether you want us in your life or not. For us, you’re the one and only woman we’ll ever want.”
“To put it simply, we love you. With all our hearts and all our souls.”
She couldn’t help but smile at Damon. “You’ve never said that you love me. None of you.”
“We haven’t?” Riker shrugged. “I guess saying ‘I love you’ just never felt like enough. Love isn’t a strong enough word for what we feel for you, but yeah, we do love you.”
Jude’s dark eyes sought hers, telling her without words that he felt the same way.
She’d waited a lifetime to hear those words, and now she almost couldn’t believe she had. “And the answer to the first question?”
Damon and Riker exchanged a telling glance, and her breath caught in her throat. Damon started to answer, but Riker jumped in ahead of him.
“Damon and Jude are brothers. You know that. I came to be
with them because I’m the one who changed Damon into a werewolf.”
She hadn’t expected that. Somehow she’d assumed they’d been changed into what they were by unknown assailants. “But why?”
Riker tucked his chin, and shame filled his face. “It was a long time ago, but I was under the influence of another vampire. His name was D’Lecro. He preyed on the soldiers coming home from the War Between the States.”
She gasped. “You’re that old?”
Damon chuckled and released her hand. “Yeah, but we’re in great shape for our age.” He grew serious and quietly urged Riker to continue.
“D’Lecro took pleasure in other people’s misery, and he wanted to see me attack and change a man. I attacked Damon while he took Jude. But I promise you this. Damon was my first and last victim. I managed to get away from D’Lecro, and once I had, I vowed to find Damon and ask his forgiveness.” He shot a grin at Damon. “Obviously, he forgave me.”
“And you two? Have you ever killed?” She prayed that Damon and Jude would have a similar answer to Riker’s.
“Right after Jude and I were changed, we made it back to our home near Atlanta. But instead of finding our mother and our home intact, we found our mother dead and our home burned to the ground. In our grief, we lost control and tried to kill a neighbor and his wife. Fortunately for them and for us, they were able to seek refuge in their cellar.”
Jude took a stand next to his brother. “The fact that we’d lost control scared us so much that we vowed to never let that happen again. We kept that vow…until Tess threatened your life.”
“Does that make it harder for you to keep your promise the next time?”
“We’ll never know until the next time happens.”
“Is that why your eyes change? When you transform into werewolves and a vampire?”
Damon nodded. “Ours turn to amber, and Jude’s eyes change to red whenever he’s in full vampire mode.”
“What about the fight? I saw you bite each other. Does that mean you’ll be werewolf and vampire hybrids?”
Jude shuddered. “No, thank goodness. To change someone, either one of us, we have to use special bites.”
She let out a breath, her mind finally calming because of their nearness as well as their answers.
Jude sat on the coffee table in front of her. “Kelly, we have to ask. Can you accept us, knowing what we are? Or do you want us to leave and never bother you again?”
“I want you.” She darted her gaze between her three men. “All of you. That’s all right with you, isn’t it? That’s what you mean, isn’t it? That we’re all supposed to be together?”
Riker’s wide grin was back in full force. “More than all right. That’s exactly what we want.”
“I love you, too, you know.” Funny how she’d never said those three simple words to them, either.
Whether it was joy, relief, or a combination of both, she was filled with an incredible sensation that had to be physically expressed. She stood along with them and hugged each one along with a tender kiss.
She tilted her head toward the hallway. “Would anyone like to take this to the bedroom?” As soon as she saw the enthusiasm of the men, she took off running down the hallway.
She yelped as Riker came up behind her and scooped her up, tossing her body against his chest. Damon used his shoulder to bump into her bedroom door then threw himself on top of her bed. He caught her as Riker turned her loose.
Jude came behind them in his usual unhurried manner then stood by the bed as his brother and friend began tugging off Kelly’s clothes. She watched in awe as they shifted enough to bring out their fangs and started tearing her clothes away. Wearing only her bra and thong, she lay down and spread her hair over the pillow.
“Holy hell.” Riker’s awed tone was better than the words he’d spoken.
Damon skimmed his hand along her thigh. “You can say that again, friend.”
She fingered the edge of Damon’s shirt. “Want to take my picture now?”
“Hell, yeah, but I don’t have my camera with me.” He formed a box with his fingers and pretended to take her picture. “I’ll take a rain check, but it has to be soon.”
“Whenever you say,” she promised. “But no one else ever sees the photo.”
“Until then, we have more important things to do.” Jude undid the buttons on his black silk shirt, which got the other men to get off the bed, tug their T-shirts over their heads, and start kicking off their boots and unzipping their jeans.
Kelly ran a hand over her breasts, teasing them as she let her fingers glide under her bra then out again. Her nipples hardened as she played with them, and her pussy grew moist. She’d make them want her as much as she wanted them, but being a tease was a lot harder than she thought.
“Babe, do you still have those handcuffs?” Damon glanced around the room.
Riker’s face lit up. “Handcuffs? What else do you have?”
Kelly pointed to a small dresser on the other side of the bed. “Take a look for yourself.”
Damon walked over to the dresser, giving her a wonderful look at his firm, round bottom. His long legs were as strong as tree trunks, and the width of his shoulders made her grow even hotter with need. He pulled open the one drawer and gave a low chuckle. “Boys, we’re going to have some fun.”
Jude, free of his clothes, eased onto the bed at her feet and ran his palm over her leg. “We’ve waited a long time for this.”
“One of us more than the others,” chided Riker. “Bring us the good stuff, Damon.”
Damon tossed the handcuffs onto the bed then followed them with a pair of black restraints, as well as a large blue vibrator and a tube of lube. “Cuff her, Riker.”
Riker snatched up the handcuffs then reached over to snap them into place around her wrists. He slid the chain holding the cuffs together over a spike at the top of her wrought iron headboard then skimmed his palms along her arms and down to her face. Pressing his lips to hers, he kissed her deeply, longingly, until she was moaning and trying to catch his tongue inside her mouth. Riker stayed on the right side of her and broke the kiss to bring his mouth to her nipple.
Jude switched on the vibrator and let its long shaft wiggle against her leg. He laughed as he slid it between her legs and touched the end of it against her pussy lips. She jerked then opened her legs wider.
Damon crawled onto the bed on the other side of her and fondled her other breast. He leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead then pinched her nipple, making it even harder than before.
Jude kept the vibrator poised at her pussy lips as he massaged her leg, then her stomach, and back to her leg. Damon flicked his finger over her nipple to send tiny pleasures of pain, and she arched, trying to get him to put his mouth on her nipple as Riker was doing.
They took their time, caressing her, murmuring soft words of what they were going to do to her and how much they loved her. She loved them just as much, not in spite of what they were but because of it.
“We’re going to make you hum with pleasure.” Damon’s cock rubbed against her shoulder as he bent to nuzzle her ear.
She yanked on the cuffs and wished she hadn’t let them bind her so early in their sexual play. “Damon, your cock is torturing me. Let me suck on it.”
Riker rubbed his cock against her other arm. “Don’t forget I’m here, too.”
“Then get ready.” Damon moved closer, and she turned her head toward him to draw in his huge cock, loving the way the loose skin covered the incredible hardness underneath it. Whipping her tongue around his dick, she watched as his mouth parted, and he closed his eyes. She worked her head back and forth, slipping him in and out of her mouth while he bounced her tit in his hand.
Riker groaned and tugged on her chin. She released Damon and let Riker turn her head toward his cock. She flicked her tongue over the tip of his cock, tempting him, giving him a brief sample of what she had in store for him. He let out a quick breath and fondled her breast
as he tunneled his fingers through her hair.
Damon stroked himself, protesting that it was his turn again. She let go of Riker’s dick and glanced at their cocks, comparing them. Each man’s shaft was huge, larger than any she’d ever seen. Both had purplish veins running the length of them, curved at the end, and were capped with a bulbous tip.
“If I had my hands free, I could pump both of you.”
“Not yet. We like seeing you tied up. Besides, we’ll help you as you move between us.” Riker closed his hand around his cock and offered it to her.
She laughed and tilted her head to Damon. “It’s Damon’s turn.” Damon didn’t hesitate to give her his cock, and she drew it in hungrily.
Jude eased between her legs and parted her pussy lips with his fingers. He switched the vibrator to an alternating speed of four quick turns to one long, slow spin. She sucked harder on Damon’s dick as Jude eased the vibrator just inside her sheath.
Riker lavished her breast and watched as she slid her tongue around and around Damon’s cock. The air was thick with their lust as Jude pushed the vibrator a little farther inside her pussy.
The spinning motion of the vibrator kept going as Jude pushed the button that made the vibrator move back and forth, simulating a man thrusting his cock inside her. She widened her legs and moaned a breath of warm air over Damon’s cock.
She pulled away from Damon’s cock then turned as Riker slanted his mouth over hers. The sensation of him nipping and licking her lips shot a wave of heated yearning into her, and she yanked on the cuffs, aching to touch him. He flicked his tongue over her lips as he broke the kiss to get much-needed air then took both nipples and tweaked them.
“Easy, baby, easy.” Damon moved to the bottom of the bed, took her leg, and tied the cloth restraint around her ankle. Securing it to the bedpost, he got off the bed and did the same with her other leg.
Jude mumbled his thanks that Damon had spread her legs farther apart and plunged the vibrator deep inside her. She bucked as the spinning, plunging toy worked against her pussy walls. The friction was amazing, fueling the fire inside her and pushing her to a higher state of need.