Protecting Dallas

by Krista Wolf

  I reached out blindly for more tissues. They were handing them to me as fast as I could grab them.

  “There’s more.”

  In the last few pages of the book, the photographs were much older. I was young in them. Connor too. And also…

  “Oh my God…”

  My parents stood there now, smiling back at me. My mother and father looked heartbreakingly young, the way I remembered them. There were twenty or thirty photos like this. Family photos. Images of birthday parties and picnics and holidays. Of barbecues outdoors, of camping and hiking and rollerskating.

  I paused at an especially precious one, of Connor and I tearing open presents on Christmas morning. I choked back even more tears, remembering that particular day.

  “These were among your brother’s things,” said Maddox, “that somehow never made it back to you. They were on base with him. He kept them in a special envelope, and took it wherever he went.”

  I was smiling now. Even laughing. Laughing through my tears.

  “You should’ve gotten these a long time ago obviously,” Austin said. “But after what happened… it’s a blessing that you didn’t.”

  I thought about the fire. About how these things would’ve be utterly and completely gone. I felt a stab of panic at the thought, but they were here now. Here where they belonged, safe in my hands.

  “I… I don’t know what to…”

  “Say?” Kane offered, finishing the thought.

  He’d left the counter and was kneeling beside me now. I dabbed at my eyes and sniffed.

  “Say you’ll make even more memories with us,” Kane said gently. “Add pages to this book. That you’ll add another book’s worth of photographs, and then another.”

  I looked at him, then Austin, then Maddox. My beautiful blond SEAL smiled down at me and nodded.

  “Say that you’ll stay… and help us preserve the memory of Connor together.”

  Sixty-Six

  DALLAS

  I sat there in a daze, trying desperately to understand. Attempting to comprehend what they were saying… what they actually meant by the words coming out of their mouths.

  “Y—You want me to stay?”

  They nodded collectively.

  “With all of you?”

  “Of course,” said Austin.

  They were looking back at me casually, like they’d just suggested something simple like going to the movies. Like they hadn’t just dropped some incredible, life-altering proposal in my lap, with all the nonchalance of asking what I might want on my pizza.

  “Stay with you,” I said again. “As in… as a…”

  “Girlfriend,” Austin answered. “Yes.”

  “More than that though,” Kane grunted. “Much more.”

  My mouth was dry. My head was spinning.

  “What’s so hard about this to understand?” said Maddox, smiling. “We love you. We need you.” He shrugged. “We want to be with you.”

  Now the whole kitchen was spinning. I put my hand on the table to stop it.

  “But… it’s not fair to you,” I replied, kicking myself as I said it. “You all have lives. Or rather, you had lives before all this, and you gave those lives up for me.”

  The kitchen was silent again, except for the ticking of the clock. That damned clock. I wanted to break it.

  “You’ve been protecting me for so long, you don’t have anything else,” I said. “Maybe you don’t want me. Maybe you’re just used to me. You know, having me around. On your monitors at first, and then in your home.” I swallowed dryly. “And then... well…”

  “Do you love us?” Kane asked suddenly. The question seemed even more abrupt, coming from him.

  “With all my heart,” I said immediately.

  “Then that’s all that matters.”

  I felt warm, but it was a good warm. An enveloping warmth that brought with it peace and comfort.

  “Dallas listen,” said Maddox. “We could all go our separate ways. Maybe meet other people, eventually even fall in love. We’d marry different women. Raise families…”

  I felt a pang of jealousy. It came from out of nowhere, hitting me hard, surprising me fully.

  “But then we’d lead different lives,” Austin went on. “We’d be forever apart. Forever separated by divergent paths.” He paused for a moment. “Yet with you…”

  “With you’d we’d remain together,” Maddox finished for him. “As a unit. The unit we’ve always been.”

  “The unit we’re best at,” Kane added.

  A hand touched my cheek. Maddox was kneeling now, turning my face toward his.

  “We already love you Dallas,” he said. “And you love us. It could work, the four of us together. We’d be more inseparable than any couple ever could. We’d be a team.”

  Together. Inseparable…

  The words hung there in my mind, glowing brightly.

  “And if anyone knows a team its us,” smiled Austin.

  “Be with us,” said Maddox. “Forget everything, forget everyone else. Be ours, and we’ll give you the world. And in return you get us.”

  My heart soared. I felt it open… and the warmth poured in.

  “And we’d have a Winters on our team again,” said Kane solemnly. “Just as we always did.” I could see his face contorting, trying to choke back powerful emotions. “Just like before.”

  I sat there stunned. Elated. Jubilant.

  You complete them, Dallas.

  Excited. Thrilled beyond belief.

  And there’s nothing wrong with that.

  Slowly I stood. I crossed the kitchen halfway, grabbed the wall clock, and smashed it against the floor. The moment was almost apocalyptic: it exploded into a thousand plastic shards.

  “We can move, right?” I ventured. “Get the hell out of here?”

  All three of them were dumbstruck, staring back at me in awe. Kane let out a short, barking laugh.

  “You mean leave Vegas?”

  I nodded.

  “Fuck yes,” they all said at once.

  I was holding back the mother of all smiles. Now I let it go. It broke across my face, splitting me from ear to ear.

  “Then I’m all in,” I said, spreading out my arms.

  Less than three seconds later, I was being crushed in a triple bear-hug.

  Epilogue

  DALLAS

  “One…”

  I stood helplessly sightless, my pulse racing with the anticipation of being able to see again.

  “Two…”

  My whole body felt charged and alive. Burning hot. Sizzling.

  “Three!”

  The blindfold dropped, and for a moment everything was fuzzy. Then I blinked three times in rapid succession, and clapped both hands over my mouth.

  “Oh my GOD…”

  The room was breathtakingly beautiful. Decorated in perfect feminine style, but with a distinctive, man’s touch.

  Or should I say men’s touch.

  “Holy shit! It’s… it’s…”

  “Perfect?” Austin offered.

  “YES!”

  From the silk drapes just kissing the hardwood floors, to the Persian rug squared off against the four-poster bed, it was everything and anything I could’ve ever wanted. My boys had done good. Very good.

  “I love it!” I practically shouted, spinning in a slow circle. “Oh wow. You guys… you really outdid yourselves.”

  It was our first day in the new house. Our first night in my new bedroom! Or more accurately our new bedroom, because we’d converted the master into an area big enough, and wide enough, to accommodate the four of us.

  And now it was actually decorated too.

  “Sort of makes you forget the rest of the house is still in boxes, doesn’t it?”

  “YES!” I shouted again, still soaking it all in. The room was soft and comfortable. Probably because the lights were off, and a dozen or more lit candles had been placed strategically around the room.

  But who was keeping scor
e anyway.

  “You guys are the—”

  The rest of my words were lost as Maddox’s mouth closed over mine. He began kissing me softly, sensuously, his warm tongue sliding erotically into my wet, willing mouth.

  Oh!

  Three sets of hands went to my body at once. They began pulling off my clothes. Sliding everything but my panties downward and away.

  YES…

  I stepped forward and out of whatever was left. I’d been horny all week. Horny throughout the move, clear across the country to our gorgeous new home, nestled perfectly on our twelve-acre lot in the woods.

  New Hampshire had been one of our choices; one of four different dart-throws against a map on the wall. As random as that seemed, it turned out to be an amazing decision. The four of us wanted a brand new start. Someplace cozy, that had seasons and snow. Someplace fresh, that none of us had ever been.

  And the house…

  The house was a gorgeous old mountain-style home, with pillars and gables and warm, wood-stained trim. Big enough for all of us… and then some.

  We each had our own rooms, our own space, but my room was special. My room was this room, cozy enough for whenever I wanted to retreat to it, large enough to accommodate two… or three… or four…

  Hey, a girl’s gotta do what she can to stay warm.

  And I’d heard the nights up here could get very, very cold.

  Suddenly Austin was kissing me, and then Kane. One by one they shared my lips, turning my head this way and that. Leading me ever closer to the bed while their hands roamed my body, touching me everywhere at once until my tingling senses overloaded with pleasure.

  “Oh fuck…” I murmured softly.

  “Soon enough, yeah,” one of them chuckled.

  I jumped as something dripped onto my shoulder; something wet but warm, something vaguely familiar but not unpleasant. It took me only a moment to realize what it was.

  They’re covering me with oil…

  They were, and it was absolutely magnificent. Four hands rubbed up and down the left and right sides of my body, totally coating me with warm, Jasmine-scented oil. In the meantime, Kane was still kissing me. His hands were on my tits, kneading them softly, cupping them in his big hands until someone poured oil there too…

  “Mmmmmm…” I cooed in contentment. “Oh shit that’s nice.”

  It was beyond nice, actually. I felt enveloped by warmth. Coated all over in a deep, soothing heat that seemed to be radiating through my skin and into my body. I knew right away that the more they rubbed, the hotter everything would get.

  “Turn her around.”

  They did, and soon they were getting my back as well as my front. If there was anything nicer than a pair of hands smoothing motion-activated oil all over your ass, it was two or three pairs working simultaneously. Their palms dove down, to do my legs. Closed tightly around my thighs, dragging their way agonizingly upward…

  Oh wow.

  I felt like a princess. Like a queen.

  This is living.

  My eyes slowly closed, dulling out all the rest of my senses except for the sense of touch. Their touch was growing bolder now, their fingers more insistent. Somehow they’d moved me, too. I was standing at the edge of the bed.

  “Lay her down.”

  I was tipped backwards, and they cradled me as I fell. It was the ultimate trust fall. The most sensual thing I’d ever experienced in my life.

  “Gently…”

  A pair of lips brushed my ear. Another closed over my left breast. Someone whispered something hot and dirty to me, so husky and faint I could only barely understand it.

  Then a pair of hands went to my legs… spreading my thighs wide.

  “Do you want this?”

  I nodded eagerly. I could feel a tiny pool of warm oil settled in the hollow of my throat.

  “Take it then.”

  A hand guided mine, and suddenly I was stroking a long, thick cock. Maddox’s, maybe. Or Kane’s, judging by the size and head. Someone dumped oil into my palm, and everything became a lot easier… and more fun.

  “Me also.”

  A second set of hands guided my other palm, my fingers closing over another cock. I was stroking them both now. Pulling them through my oil-soaked hands as a third lover buried his tongue inside me.

  HOLY SHIT.

  Everything was so fucking hot. So wet and slippery. I kept kissing and stroking, writhing on my oil-soaked back into the oil-soaked sheets as whoever was between my legs devoured me expertly. I knew it had to be Austin, just from the technique. But I kept my eyes closed. Played along with the glorious anonymity of the whole unbelievable fantasy.

  “You’d better fuck her soon, or I will.”

  Maddox that time. Off to my right. Playing with one nipple while the guy on my left played with the other. Kane, of course. I could tell by the thickness of his hands, the roughness on the pads of his fingers.

  My legs were spread, and I opened my eyes. Austin was standing there, pushing his manhood against the oil-slick petals of my throbbing flower. Inching himself past the entrance… stretching me full of his hard, pulsating cock.

  I gasped as he slid into me. Then he shifted forward… upward and onto me as well. The copious amounts of oil from my body coated his, and soon we were sliding against one other. Fucking like rabbits in full view of the others, who were pinning my knees back to my ears as I stroked them off in turn.

  “Jesus,” I grunted, although it was more of a moan. “You’re deep.”

  The oil wasn’t just acting as a lubricant, it was helping to create a frictionless surface as well. Austin’s chest was hot against mine. My own stomach slid deliciously against his washboard abs, creating warmth and heat between us as he drove all the way into me on every upthrust.

  FUCK…

  Austin stared into my eyes, taking full control. He was fucking me every bit with his gaze, as he was with his cock.

  “Welcome home,” he said, smiling down at me. Then his eyes rolled back…

  … and he came right in my pussy.

  Awww, fuck!

  It was lasciviously dirty, the way he just silently let go. His hands screwed mine into the bed, his fingers clenching and unclenching as he pumped me full of his cream.

  I was helpless beneath him. My shoulders pinned firmly to the bed by the grip of Maddox and Kane.

  Over and over he drilled himself into me, working the oil and come into a hot, heated mixture that coated his shaft and balls. We both looked down when he finally withdrew, admiring the sheer obscenity of what we’d just done.

  “Who’s next?” he smirked.

  Kane stepped up, sliding from the bed and taking my ankles in his hands. His big cock stood out like a railroad spike, strong and beautiful, all glistening with oil.

  Holy shit.

  My legs were still trembling, my shallow respiration causing my stomach to go concave and convex with each alternating breath. Kane and I locked eyes, and every butterfly in my stomach took flight at once.

  Then he flexed… and with one twist of his massive arms I was flipped instantly onto my stomach.

  More oil was applied, this time from my other lovers. They poured it copiously over my ass. Massaged it in with their hands, kneading my supple cheeks and spreading them wide.

  I sensed Kane as he leaned forward, his fingertips probing me gently. Somehow I was still wearing my G-string. I’d been fucked in. Filled in it. Now it went abruptly tight, digging in around my waist as he took it between his thick fingers…

  SNAP!

  It broke like a flimsy rubber-band, sending a shockwave of pain and arousal rocketing through my body. The pain only lasted a few brief seconds. The arousal hung around…

  The pad of Kane’s thumb pressed forward, against my tight little asshole. Between the heat and the lubrication and how relaxed I already was, it slipped past the opening and pushed slowly, deliciously inside.

  Ohhhhhhhh…

  “I’ve wanted this for a l
ong time,” Kane growled, leaning over my back. He was practically doing a push-up over me now. His thumb slid into my ass another inch. “Now I’m taking it.”

  I felt so warm and full beneath him. So incredibly, beautifully dominated.

  “It’s yours,” I gasped.

  He pressed his face against mine for a moment, kissing my cheek tenderly. Then he withdrew his thumb and replaced it with the thick, mushroom-shaped head of his cock.

  Oh my God…

  It felt absolutely insane as he pushed forward. Like trying to fit an apple into a garden hose. Yet somehow, I stretched to accommodate him. My whole body sunk into the bed as my asscheeks parted and my sphincter relaxed to let my lover inside. I jumped only once, when the head snapped in. And then Kane was pushing himself… ever so slowly… all the way up my tight, glistening ass.

  Fuuuuuck!

  My hands were high overhead as they clenched the sheets, screwing them into my palms. Every inch was sweet, blissful agony. Every centimeter, a magnificent victory.

  When he was fully inside, totally in me, I felt like we’d won something. I let out a small, raving laugh into the oil-soaked sheets… and then Kane began fucking my ass with strong, deep strokes.

  “Holy shit that’s hot,” breathed Austin. The tone in his voice told me he lamented letting go so soon.

  Kane grunted, squeezing my ass in his hands. His fingers slipped everywhere as he struggled to maintain his grip, all while plowing me into a series of breathless whimpers and not-so-soft moans.

  We screwed for a long while, developing the most awesome of rhythms. Pleasure took the place of discomfort. Recklessness edged out caution as we continued to pick up speed.

  I was yelling now. Saying things — some of them incoherent — all of them dirty. An oil-soaked hand went into my hair, and suddenly I was face to face with Maddox’s beautifully ripped torso. He had his cock in one hand, and was smearing it all around my face. Sliding it under my chin, against my cheeks… over my nose and forehead in wide circles, smearing oil everywhere that it went.