Sated in Ink: A Montgomery Ink: Boulder Novel

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Lincoln laughed, his whole body shaking as he tugged Ethan across the house. “You’re right about that.”

  “Holland tomorrow, though?” Ethan asked. “Because while I want this with you, and I want to figure this out, I don’t want it to feel like we’re cheating on her.”

  “It doesn’t feel that way at all. It feels like we’re one connection, one link. And we’ll figure out the rest. I promise.”

  Ethan nodded, then his lips were on Lincoln’s, and there didn’t need to be any more talking. At least, not right that second.

  Lincoln led Ethan the rest of the way to Ethan’s bedroom, their lips on each other, their hands roaming the entire time. This was everything he had ever wanted. It was as if it were finally happening. After so many years, so many wants and dreams, it was so much more than he had ever imagined.

  And he didn’t want to mess it up.

  “You’re frowning against my lips,” Lincoln whispered.

  “I forget you know me so well,” Ethan rasped.

  “If I knew you that well, we would’ve already been doing this long before now.”

  Ethan shook his head. “I don’t know. I think we both needed to be ready. Or, at least, figuring out what we wanted. And maybe it’s weird to say, but I believe we needed Holland.”

  Lincoln stared at him then and smiled. “I think we did. I think that’s exactly what we needed.” And then they weren’t talking anymore. Just kissing. Needing.

  Ethan raised his arms as Lincoln slowly slid the shirt over his head, and then Lincoln did the same for Ethan.

  When Lincoln licked Ethan’s nipple, they both shuddered, the exquisite delicateness of the moment almost too much.

  Ethan had wanted this for so long, he was afraid it was going to be a dream. Or that they would go too fast and he would miss it all.

  But he just focused on the moment, lasered in on what was happening. And then leaned in for more.

  Together, they stripped down, Ethan gently sliding his hand behind the waistband of Lincoln’s boxer briefs. When he curled his fingers around Lincoln’s hardness, his best friend sucked in a breath and groaned.

  “Jesus, just one touch, and I’m ready to blow,” Lincoln groaned out.

  “You’re not even touching my dick, and I already know I’m not going to last long. What does that tell you?”

  “That I probably should have done this before. We should have met Holland before.”

  “Just imagining her on that park bench in that wedding dress, picturing lifting it up over her hips makes me hard, too.”

  Lincoln’s eyes narrowed, even as heat filled them.

  “You thought that, too?”

  Ethan licked his lips. “I did. You, taking her from behind as she swallowed my cock. Or maybe me in her pussy with you in her ass. With all of that delicate lace around us. She was another man’s, but right then, and right now, all I can do is picture her in that dress, just how we met her, and her being ours. And then she and I sharing you. Does that make me a horrible lech?” Ethan asked as Lincoln slowly slid Ethan’s underwear down.

  He shook them off, then got rid of Lincoln’s until they were both naked, both pumping each other’s dicks in their hands.

  Ethan stood a little closer so their dicks rubbed against each other, and when Lincoln took them both in hand, Ethan groaned out and then reached around Lincoln’s ass to play with his crack.

  Ethan met Lincoln’s gaze, and his best friend gave him a tiny nod, so Ethan began to play. Slowly at first, even while Lincoln moved his hands, jerking them both off.

  “I need lube,” Ethan growled and then pulled away.

  “I’m sure you have some, right?” Lincoln asked, and Ethan just nodded.

  “Of course, I do. I’m not a monster.” He went to the dresser drawer and pulled out some lube, putting some on his fingers and then on his dick. He handed the bottle over to Lincoln, who did the same. Then Ethan went back into the drawer and pulled out condoms. “Just in case we go that far,” he said.

  Lincoln nodded. “Good. Because I really want to fuck that ass of yours,” Lincoln growled.

  Ethan’s brows rose. “Oh, so you’re going to top?”

  “Top or bottom, depends on the mood. But when I dream this, you’re usually on all fours.”

  Ethan closed his eyes and counted to ten. He would not come right then. He was not going to last much longer, though.

  “Ah, well, I’ve had similar dreams. But, sometimes, I’m on all fours. And sometimes, you are. You want to flip a coin?”

  Lincoln took a step forward, thrust his hand down, and squeezed the base of Ethan’s dick. Ethan’s eyes crossed, and he tried to count to ten again but he forgot what number came after three. Was it seven? Was it ten? Did it matter? Dear, God.

  “How about I go first? Then, we’ll take turns. When Holland’s here? That’ll be fun with figuring out who gets to top.”

  “It’s her. The answer is always her.” Ethan gasped. Lincoln laughed. “Pretty much. And that image almost just sent me right over the edge.” Ethan growled, but he was laughing at the same time.

  “Tell me about it. Now, fuck me.”

  They kissed, continued holding each other until they were finally on the bed, both of them grinding against one another as they added more lube, with Lincoln slowly and methodically working on Ethan’s hole. He frowned as a curse word bubbled up, knowing he was going to come too soon. He just kept working, kept grinding their dick’s together, then it was too late. He was coming on both of their stomachs, shouting Lincoln’s name. Lincoln just leaned down and lapped it up, licking Ethan’s cock in the process, both of them groaning.

  “Jesus Christ. You weren’t even inside me yet.”

  “Well, I guess we’d better get you hard again. Oh, look. Already halfway there.”

  And so, Lincoln began to work Ethan’s cock again, this time hovering over Ethan as he slowly prodded at his entrance with the tip of his now condom-clad dick.

  “Are you ready for me? I’ve been working you with my fingers, but if it’s too much, we can stop.”

  Ethan spread his legs and gripped his dick.

  “I’m ready for you. Just hurry, already.”

  Lincoln grinned, then there were no more words. He wasn’t rough, was actually gentle. As if they had been waiting for this moment forever. And maybe they had.

  Lincoln slowly worked his way in and out of him, carefully, reverently, as if he were afraid Ethan would break. Or maybe he would. That perhaps this would be too much. But it didn’t matter. This was everything. It was so much.

  When Lincoln finally came, Ethan joined him. After, they were both panting, connected in every way. Always.

  And Ethan knew that this was one of the best moments of his life. Tomorrow, they would add their third. They would find Holland and make sure she knew that she could be a part of this, too.

  Because Ethan knew that as much as he loved this, as much as he wanted this with Lincoln, something was missing. And he knew Lincoln felt it, too.

  This was everything. But if they added Holland? It could be even more.

  As he held his best friend, curled into him, he knew that this was just the start. Because with Holland, it could be so much more. It could be everything.

  He just hoped to hell it was worth it.

  Chapter 8

  Somehow, Holland was working. Somehow, she was functioning and smiling and thanking people for their purchases. She was dealing with budget and work orders and organizing her store. She was making sure her employee, Fiona, was doing what she needed to do and working at the cash register as well as helping to dust all the little collectibles.

  Somehow, Holland was getting all of that done.

  And she wasn’t thinking about Ethan and Lincoln every second of every minute of every hour of every part of her day.

  And the day before.

  Okay, so it was every other second, but that had to count as progress, considering she’d been hungover the day before,
trying to work and thinking about the guys so much it physically hurt.

  There was something wrong with her. Something seriously wrong with her.

  But there was nothing she could really do about it. Because she just knew deep down in her heart that she was never going to see them again. They were either going to think her a horrible person for what she did when she was drunk, or maybe they’d just fall for each other, and she would be left out.

  And, honestly, that wouldn’t be that bad, actually. Because they deserved each other. They were good together. And she had sensed the lingering tension between them. She just hadn’t realized it would explode like it did.

  But she was happy that it had.

  Because they were so good together. So good in fact, it was making her hot just thinking about it.

  She wasn’t going to think about it at all.

  She honestly couldn’t.

  “Are these the ones going on sale? Or is the other section?” Fiona asked, bringing Holland out of her thoughts.

  Holland shook her head and then realized it likely looked as if she were saying, “No.” She forced a smile as she made her way over to where Fiona was standing.

  “This is the right shelf. You’re going to need to mark each one, though, because we don’t have it in the system what each thing is individually.”

  “That’s not a problem, Holland. Do you want me to cover the barcode?”

  Holland explained what needed to be done, liking the fact that Fiona asked so many questions. She learned quickly but also wanted to make sure that she was completing things correctly. Fiona was sixteen, and this was her first job. She only worked part-time and was saving up money to buy a car. But she worked hard, and Holland liked her.

  She also liked Steven, her other part-time worker, who was in his thirties and was just finishing up being a stay-at-home dad. His husband worked full-time with pretty unreasonable hours—not that she would ever say that. Steven worked when the kids were in school for a little extra money for the family. And those college funds. Sometimes, he even brought the kids in so she could say hi and hold them and see how their days were.

  She loved the kids. Had always thought she would have some of her own with Dustin.

  Well, that wasn’t going to happen, was it?

  And it seemed as if a relationship with the two people she thought maybe she could have in the future wasn’t going to work out either. She’d made things so awkward between them that it would be best if she wasn’t part of it. No babies for her anytime soon. Or, ever for that matter. But it was fine. She didn’t need that. All she needed was her job, and well…that was about it.

  Because her friends had been Dustin’s friends. And her little sister’s for that matter. After her wedding day, they had all gone with Dustin and Dakota rather than her. It didn’t matter that she had been the one slighted. Everyone thought that it was almost like Romeo and Juliet, the fact that Dustin and Dakota were finally together after so many years of being with the wrong people.

  Well, fuck them. Fuck them hard. Holland didn’t need them. She didn’t need anyone. And, if she kept telling herself that, maybe someday, she wouldn’t want to vomit every time she thought about it.

  She wasn’t sure how people made friends these days. Maybe she could hit up a bar and find some girls who needed one more member in their group. She could use some friends. She hated that she felt literally alone at this point.

  And now, she sounded whiny. And she hated that even more.

  She helped Fiona a bit longer and then went up to the front of the store to help a few lingering customers.

  Her store did decent business, did even better business on the weekends, and she loved it.

  She loved Boulder, Colorado. It was situated right up in the mountains so the views—no matter where you were—were spectacular. It was a college town, a hippie town, a crunchy granola town, and just…a weird one. But it was perfect for her.

  People came into the shop all the time for little trinkets or for presents or just for something to say that they were in Boulder. She didn’t overprice her merchandise so she made a decent profit, but the artists earned their wages, as well. She had one-of-a-kind pieces. Things you could only get in Boulder, from these local artisans.

  Of course, thinking about art made her think about Lincoln. She had looked him up and almost wept at the art she had seen. He was famous. Maybe not outside of certain art circles, but people knew his name. And his work was breathtaking. She had seen it before even without knowing who he was, had fallen in love with his pieces, and had hoped, one day, to be able to own something of her own.

  Not that she thought she’d ever be able to afford it now. His prices were starting to skyrocket. She was sure his agent was part of that, but Lincoln deserved to be paid for his work. If people wanted it, and he was in high demand, she understood. Sometimes, art got expensive.

  She just wished she could afford it.

  She said goodbye to a couple as they walked out, their bags full of gifts for their nieces and nephews and was just about to head to the back to nibble at her lunch when the door opened again. She froze. And before she could even turn to see who had entered, that familiar perfume hit her senses.

  Why? Why today?

  She had bags under her eyes. She hadn’t slept well because all she had done all night was think about Ethan and Lincoln. She knew she looked like crap.

  Of course, her mother would be here.

  “Holland. This is enough.”

  “Hi, Mother, would you like to come to the back with me?”

  “No, we are going to talk. Right here, right now.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Holland noticed that Fiona was staring wide-eyed. Holland just sighed.

  “This is my place of business, Mother. How about you come into the back with me and Fiona can watch the front? It’s either that, or you walk right out, and we don’t talk at all.” She had been avoiding her family for a while now, with good reason, but when her mother got a burr up her butt like this, there was no avoiding her.

  Holland didn’t know how or when her parents had stopped loving her. Had stopped even liking her.

  And she hated that she was jealous of her sister. Not because of Dustin, but because her parents loved her little sister so much. Dakota could do no wrong, and yet, it was always Holland who did the wrong thing.

  But she couldn’t dwell on that. She just had to focus. And try to get her mother out of her store before she lost business because of the woman.

  Her mom rolled her eyes, looking like a teenager rather than a woman in her fifties. “Fine.”

  She stormed past Holland into the back. Holland just shrugged, giving a small smile to Fiona. “I’ll be right back. Do you mind watching the front?”

  “No problem. Are you going to be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. If you need anything, let me know.”

  “You, too,” Fiona said quickly. Holland just smiled before rolling her shoulders back to go and face the firing squad.

  Or, you know…her mother.

  She headed to the back where her mom surveyed Holland’s inventory and desk, clicking her tongue at the stacks of paper.

  Holland was neat, everything was in order, she’d even dusted that morning. Nothing was out of place.

  But it wasn’t exactly a doctor’s office or a medical school like her mother wanted for Holland. They’d wanted lawyers and doctors and everything clichéd you could think of in the family. Holland just wanted happiness. And, she liked her shop. She knew that having her store in business was a blessing. She saved and scrimped and made sure that her place was the best it could possibly be so she didn’t end up losing it.

  Her mom didn’t understand that. Didn’t get that not everybody wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer.

  “You need to apologize to your sister.”

  Holland just stood there, stunned.

  “Excuse me?”

  The woman who had raised her turned on Hollan
d, her eyes narrowed into slits. “You have been declining her calls and ignoring her. And you haven’t once congratulated her on her engagement. What kind of sister are you?”

  “I honestly cannot believe you’re even saying this. You do understand what she did, right?”

  “You’re the one who walked out on your wedding. You’re the one suffering the consequences now because of it. You don’t have to punish your sister because of your poor choices.”

  Holland rubbed her temples and knew that this shouldn’t be a surprise to her. Her mother always misconstrued facts and twisted things into her own version following her own timeline. It never made any sense to her, and Holland would always end up in the wrong no matter what happened.

  But she seriously couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mother’s mouth.

  Because, dear God. Her mom was insane.

  “Mom, I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to talk to Dustin. I don’t want to talk to anybody who blames me for walking out.”

  “You were always such a selfish girl.”

  That was it.

  “You need to go. I’m really tired of this. You know I’m not selfish. You know this is just…” Holland tried to ignore the hurt, but she couldn’t breathe. She could not understand who this woman was. Didn’t understand how she could have raised Holland.

  “Just go,” Holland repeated.

  “I will not. You need to talk to your sister.”

  “No, I don’t. I don’t need to talk with any of you. Not anymore.”

  “It was an accident, Holland.”

  Holland just rolled her eyes, snorting. “So…she just slipped and swallowed?”

  Holland didn’t even register the slap until the sting made her eyes water.

  “Did you just hit me?” Holland asked, her voice a gasp.

  “How dare you talk like that? With that tone?”

  “Leave. Before I call the cops.”

  “You are such an ungrateful, spoiled brat. Your sister needs you. She’s getting married to the love of her life, and you are just jealous of her. You don’t understand.”

  “You know what? Fuck you. Get out. Dakota’s welcome to Dustin. But I’m done.”