by Maya Banks
“Why didn’t you and Ryan solve the problem?” Adam demanded.
“You’re hurting her, Adam. Not us.”
“Me? What the fuck did I do?”
Adam felt his anger rising. He wasn’t into playing stupid mind games, and Ethan was fast pissing him off.
Ethan sighed and slid his legs over the side of the bed. “Look, Adam, she’s having a rough time, and you running off at Lacey’s calling isn’t helping matters. She’s insecure and who can blame her with what that fuckhead of a husband did to her?”
“She’s upset because I went to help Lacey?”
“Maybe if you had explained the nature of your relationship with Lacey, Holly wouldn’t feel as she does, but she knows something is between you two, and she knows Lacey doesn’t like her one bit. Lacey’s acted like a jealous bitch at every turn. Much like a woman scorned. Holly isn’t stupid, Adam. Neither am I. Something went on between you two.”
The muscles in Adam’s face twitched, and he pressed his lips together. “What did or didn’t happen between us isn’t any of your business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ethan said evenly. “Dead wrong. It is very much my business. I love Holly. And I think you do too, Adam. I think Ryan probably does as well although he may have a hell of a time admitting it to himself. Anything you do that hurts Holly is my business. She’s as much mine as she is yours and Ryan’s. If this relationship is going to work, you’re going to have to pull your head out of your ass.”
Adam blew out his breath in one long sigh. “Christ. Nothing happened between me and Lacey tonight, Ethan. I wouldn’t do that to Holly.”
“I know,” Ethan said quietly. “But she doesn’t know that. Not yet. We haven’t earned her trust. She’s not going to offer that lightly after what she’s gone through.”
“And in the meantime, I’m locked out of my fucking bedroom.”
Ethan chuckled. “I guess you get the couch. I wonder if we’ll have a steady rotation when one of us pisses her off.”
“Good night. Sorry I woke you,” Adam said as he turned to leave.
He eased the door shut behind him and stared down the hall at his locked door. It was nothing a screwdriver wouldn’t fix. Maybe it was time he and Holly had a little time alone.
A few minutes later, he quietly slipped into his bedroom. Holly had left the lamp by the bed on and the soft glow poured over the bed. He set the screwdriver down on the dresser and shrugged out of his clothing.
He walked to the bed and looked down at Holly’s curled up body. Only her face peeked out from underneath the covers. A face that was red and blotchy. His chest tightened at the evidence of her tears.
He gently pulled back the covers and climbed in beside her. He pulled her tightly into his arms, liking the way her soft curves melted into his hard body.
She stirred and opened bleary eyes. They flared in surprise when she saw him.
“How did you get in here?”
“Quite easily actually. Why did you lock me out?”
She looked away. He trailed a finger over a lock of her hair that rested on her neck.
“I just needed some time alone,” she said softly.
“That’s understandable, but you don’t have to lock the door to get your point across.”
She looked back at him again, her eyes troubled, uncertainty lurking in their depths.
He sighed. Ethan was right. He should have just explained his involvement with Lacey from the get-go. Then maybe he’d be sliding his dick into Holly’s pussy instead of lying here with a raging hard-on about to become embroiled in sensitive talk.
He checked his impatience and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Listen to me, baby. There is nothing going on between me and Lacey. I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression.”
Holly shifted and pulled the sheets up higher around her. The gesture looked protective in nature but instead of making her look stronger, it only made her seem more vulnerable.
“I don’t understand.”
Her voice came out soft and breathy, the kind that would make a man instantly hard. If he wasn’t already. She was everything soft and feminine, what a woman should be.
“What don’t you understand, baby?”
She looked away again. “Why didn’t you choose her?”
Adam frowned. That wasn’t what he expected her to say.
“She’s everything I’m not,” Holly continued. “She’s strong, tall, pretty. I bet she doesn’t need anyone.”
Adam leaned back against the pillows, taking Holly with him. He cradled her against his chest, and she laid her cheek on his shoulder. He stroked his hand up and down her arm.
“I won’t lie to you. There was a time when I was attracted to Lacey. I even went as far as to bring her home, introduce her to Ryan and Ethan. But I knew immediately that she wasn’t the one. I didn’t feel a connection with her. Not like I did with you, and it was obvious the others didn’t either. Ryan outright despised her on sight. I still haven’t figured out why. Ethan, well, he was indifferent. I stopped seeing her directly after that.”
Holly stilled against him. He could feel another question coming. One that apparently was difficult for her if her body language was any indicator.
“Ryan said…he said you were a sucker for a woman in distress.”
The light bulb went on immediately. Adam sat up, dragging Holly up with him. He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look him directly in the eye.
“Baby, I’ll always protect you, but that isn’t why you’re here. Ryan’s a dumbass. He talks to hear his head rattle, I swear. If you want an explanation as to why you and not her, well I don’t know. I can only tell you what I feel here.”
He clenched his other hand into a fist and thumped his chest. “It’s you, baby. And maybe in time you’ll believe that.”
Her eyes glittered suspiciously in the lamplight.
“I want it to be me.”
“But?” There was clearly a but in her statement. Doubt clouded her voice, and it made him uneasy.
“I’m scared of making the wrong decision. Again.”
“Does it feel wrong?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
“Holly?”
“No, it doesn’t feel wrong. That’s what scares me.”
Adam let out a small sigh of relief. He could fight uncertainty. He couldn’t fight a made up mind. Ethan’s words echoed in his mind. Was he right? Did Adam already love her? It was hard to separate his satisfaction with finding the woman who would complete their family and the idea of love.
He knew one thing. He wasn’t letting her go. If that meant he loved her, then maybe Ethan was right. And he’d try his best to make her love them as well.
He slid his hand down her side and over her hip. “I want to make love to you,” he murmured. “I’ve thought of little else all night.”
She stared up at him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He saw hesitation in her expression, but he also saw desire. Was she still afraid of him?
He lowered his head to hers, meeting her lips with his. She tasted sweet. Just like she looked. He wanted to feel those lips around his cock, her wet mouth sucking him deep. He was ready to explode just thinking about it.
“Take your clothes off,” he said hoarsely. “I want to watch you.”
She rose up on her elbow then slowly scooted off the bed. She stood for a moment, staring at him, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. Then her fingers began to fumble with her pants.
He propped up on his elbow and watched as the smooth skin of her legs came into view. His fingers itched to touch her.
She began unbuttoning her shirt, her hands working down as the shirt loosened around her breasts. When she parted the shirt, he sucked in his breath. Damn she was beautiful. She had perfect breasts. They bobbed and swayed as she shrugged completely out of her shirt and let it fall to the floor.
He crooked his finger at her. “Come here.”
She c
rawled back onto the bed, her eyes bright with desire. Her lips wavered inches from his and then she kissed him. He ran his hand over her shoulder then down her side and underneath her breast. He cupped it in his hand, loving the feel, how it filled his palm.
His dick was hard as a rock, and it was becoming more painfully engorged by the minute. There was no part of his body that didn’t scream out for her.
He continued to taste her, loving the raspy sounds of her breath as they skittered across his lips. But he wanted those lips around his cock, could think of little else.
Cupping his hand around the back of her neck, he slowly, but firmly eased her down toward the juncture of his thighs. With his other hand, he circled his fingers around the base of his dick and guided it toward her waiting mouth.
He groaned as her wet tongue slid down the length of his cock.
“Oh, baby, you feel so damn good.”
Her hair fell forward across his thighs. He moved his hand from his cock and tangled it in her hair, holding her in place as his hips jerked forward.
Slow and easy, she took him deeper, her tongue swirling around the head. He butted against the back of her throat then withdrew so she could catch her breath. She was magnificent.
She made small sucking noises as she coaxed him deeper. Her tongue rasped erotically over the vein on the underside of his dick. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw as tight as he could.
He stroked his hand down her back and over the globes of her ass. He slid his finger into her wetness, and she flinched in reaction. He smiled as she took him deeper. They were driving each other crazy.
He burrowed his fingers deeper, seeking her swollen clit. He began to rotate his finger, parting the folds, baring the flesh for his touch.
He withdrew and ran his fingers up again, delving into the cleft of her ass. She tightened in reflex as he ran a finger around the puckered opening to her ass. God, she was tight.
He took his hand away and tangled it in her hair, pulling her away from his cock. Just the thought of plunging into her ass nearly made him come right then and there.
“Lay back,” he commanded, rotating over her body.
She fell back, her mouth swollen, her eyes glazed with heady desire. Her legs fell open and he crawled between them, cupping her ass in his hands, spreading her.
In one hard thrust, he was inside her. She cried out, he cried out. Her hands clawed at his shoulders, pulling him closer. He smiled and bent down to capture her mouth with his.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered against her lips.
“I do.”
He slowly withdrew. “Turn over.”
When she complied, he stood up and walked across the room to the bathroom. He rummaged in the drawer for a tube of KY then walked back into the bedroom.
He smoothed a hand over her buttocks. “Scoot back,” he murmured.
He positioned her at the edge of the bed on all fours, her ass to him. He squeezed some of the KY onto his fingers then gently slid his hand between her ass cheeks. She moaned softly when he eased one finger into the tight opening.
Holly’s eyes flew open when his finger breached her ass. A multitude of sensations washed over her. A little fear, a lot of longing, a little pain, and a whole lot of pleasure.
She braced herself on one hand and smoothed the other over her stomach and to her pelvis below. Her fingers found her clit, and she began moving it in a circular motion. Pleasure rocketed through her abdomen.
His fingers left her for a moment and then she felt the head of his penis press against her sphincter. Slowly, ever so slowly, he pushed forward, allowing her to adjust to the sensation.
Her fingers stroked harder as she sought to offset the burning. She moaned deep in her throat. Then with a soft release, she felt him gain entrance.
She heard him say something unintelligible and then he sank all the way into her. She’d never felt such an exquisite fullness. Ryan’s words filtered back to her. Adam in your ass, me in your pussy. God, what would it feel like to have them both so deeply within her?
Adam began to thrust in and out. She was at a complete loss as to how to describe the overwhelming pleasure. It was part pain, part delicious ecstasy, and they combined to send her spiraling into the most excruciatingly, wondrous agony she’d ever endured.
His hips pressed into her buttocks, and she knew he was as deep as he could possibly go, and yet, she wanted more. She pressed back against him, rocking her hips in time with his thrusts.
Her orgasm blossomed and grew until it consumed her. She needed it. She was going to fly apart at the seams.
Behind her, Adam cried out, and then she felt the flood of his release. And then she shattered. She buried her face in the covers to keep from screaming. Adam’s hands gripped her hips tightly, holding her against him as he finished.
Her entire body quaked, shivered, convulsed. She fell limply to the bed as he withdrew. She closed her eyes, her breath coming in torturous gasps. Then she felt a warm cloth wiping over her tender flesh.
“Are you all right?” Adam asked huskily.
She nodded, unable to form a coherent response.
The bed dipped and then Adam gathered her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and held her tightly against his chest. His heart beat wildly against her cheek.
“You are the most amazing woman,” he whispered. “No one has ever made me feel like this.”
Nothing he could have said would have evaporated her fears as quickly as that simple statement. Suddenly, Lacey was gone from her mind and her worries. She wrapped her arms around Adam’s waist and closed her eyes. For the first time, she really believed that she might just hold the hearts of three men, and that they held hers.
Chapter Fourteen
Sinful, delicious sensations woke Holly up. She opened her eyes to Adam’s broad chest. She was flung across him carelessly, and she smiled to think how possessive she must look. A woman staking her claim.
“Aah, she’s awake.”
She turned her head to see Ethan beside her. His hands stroked over her back, down over her behind and back up again.
And what a way to wake up.
A look to the end of the bed revealed Ryan. A bare-chested, incredibly sexy Ryan.
She looked up to see Adam staring down at her, lust emblazoned in his eyes.
He grinned. A predatory, all male grin. One that said he had his woman right where he wanted her. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
“I just bet you were.”
Adam bent his head to kiss her. She felt Ethan’s lips press against the small of her back, and she shivered as goose bumps traveled up her spine.
Then Adam scooted out from underneath her and stood up beside the bed. He held out a hand to help her up. When she’d stood, Ryan peeled off his shorts, crawled onto the bed and laid crossways over the sheets, letting his legs dangle off the side, his feet planted on the floor.
“Come here,” Ryan directed, holding out his hands for her.
She needed no further urging. She knew what was coming. She quivered from head to toe as she straddled Ryan. She looked down into his eyes, eyes that blazed into hers. She splayed her hands across his hard chest and lifted her bottom just enough that she could cradle his straining cock between her legs.
A sheen of sweat beaded on Ryan’s forehead. “Tease,” he ground out.
She smiled, delighting in her power. Slowly, she sank down onto him, taking him deeply inside her. She closed her eyes and let herself feel every delicious inch of him.
He gripped her hips in his large hands and held her tightly. She began a slow, sensuous ride. The bed dipped again as Ethan came to her on his knees. She rolled her tongue over the head of his erection then sucked it into her mouth. Ethan’s breath came out in a hiss as he slid further beyond her lips.
Behind her, she felt Adam step between Ryan’s legs, and her heart sped up. Ryan moved his hands from her hips and cupped her buttocks in his palms. He massaged them then
spread them as the broad head of Adam’s cock nudged her opening.
He eased lubricant around the puckered opening then pressed forward as gently as he had the night before. She felt the muscle tighten in resistance then give way under his persistent push. She cried out around Ethan’s penis as Adam surged forward with one determined thrust.
They were all a part of her, all buried deeply within her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t process the bombardment of ecstasy. Ryan helped her, moving her hips as he and Adam set the pace, thrusting in unison. Ethan stroked into the wet depths of her mouth, and she wrapped her hand around his cock, wanting him deeper, wanting all of him.
She was fast losing control. She moved in mindless rapture, allowing Ryan to control the pace.
Adam stiffened behind her. He pressed against her as tightly as he could and then she felt him explode inside her. But still Ryan thrust into her pussy. When Adam gently slid from her, she moaned in protest. She was close to the most explosive orgasm of her life, and she didn’t want to lose the sense of fullness that was fast driving her over the edge.
Ethan pulled from her mouth and quickly moved behind her. Almost before she could adjust to the loss of Adam, Ethan slid into her in one long stroke. She screamed at the sensation. No preamble, no gentle coaxing. One minute he was nudging at her back entrance and the next he was fully seated within her.
“That’s it baby, feel,” Adam murmured next to her. His hands stroked over her breasts, loving her, urging her on.
Ryan and Ethan surged into her, and she threw back her head, her mouth open in one long cry of triumph. This was it. This was what she’d waited for her entire life. A sense of belonging. True belonging. She was theirs, but by God they were hers as well.
“Come with us,” Ryan whispered, as his mouth closed around her nipple.
“Oh God, yes!”
She bucked wildly between them. Ethan drove powerfully into her behind, his hands gripping her hips, holding her against him.
Her pussy tightened around Ryan’s cock, her stomach clenched in red hot need. Waves of explosive pleasure rained down over her. She gripped Ryan’s shoulders and screamed as her orgasm claimed her.