by Krista Wolf
“Wha— Oh!”
I let out a sudden but involuntary yelp as Noah tickled me savagely, then we were both tumbling to the greenery behind the flagstone circle. The grass felt cool on my back. The sky looked like a dark purple dome placed over the world, filled with shimmering white pinpricks of light.
Noah’s face entered my vision, and he smiled before lowering his lips to mine. Seconds later he was back inside me, rocking me beneath the weight of his body. Spreading me open in the undergrowth of this ancient but beautiful place, filling me up beneath the star-flung sky.
Ohhhhhh…
For the next several minutes, everything else melted away. The stress of the day, my lingering worries over everything to do with the castle grounds… all of it dissolved, in the wake of the pure pleasure of having Noah between my legs.
He was right: this place would be beautiful again. I’d make it beautiful. The very moment my obligations were satisfied and the property was mine, I’d focus my efforts on bringing this garden back to its former glory.
My uncle would be proud. He’d look down at everything I’d done and smile.
I just hoped he wasn’t looking down right now…
I slid my hands up Noah’s sculpted chest, then slowly down over his shoulders. I traced every ridge, every muscle… touching him like this just made me hotter and hotter. When I reached his arms, I couldn’t get my hands even halfway around his biceps. They were like two steel bridge cables, swaying in the wind as he picked up speed and began really pounding me.
“Oh my God!”
He pushed up on his arms, touching his nose to mine. I saw him grin.
“Is that a good ‘Oh my God’ or a bad ‘Oh my—”
“A good one!” I cried, kissing him hungrily. I bit his lip gently between my teeth and pulled, teasingly. “The very best one.”
Noah nuzzled my neck, his thrusts growing more frenzied and powerful. He was impaling me on his wondrously long cock. Driving my naked ass deeper into the soft earth, which felt cool and raw against my skin.
I was clawing him against me, urging him to go even harder. Sliding my hands over his V-shaped back, as my rapidly-approaching orgasm threatened to take over everything else.
Noah was close too. And judging by the way his whole body had gone suddenly rigid, even closer than I thought.
“You want your pussy filled with come?” he breathed through clenched teeth.
He was hammering me hard. Pushing me past that inevitable point of no return.
“Yes,” I gasped. “Please.”
“Say it.”
“I want… my pussy… filled… oooohhhh!”
Noah didn’t just explode, he practically detonated. He grunted once and screwed forward, buying himself to the balls as the first pulses began. They were strong and powerful. Like a cannon going off inside me, recoiling over and over as his wildly throbbing cock pumped me full of his cream.
“Fuckkkkkk…” I cried, letting go at the same time. My pussy spasmed hard, milking him inside me. Coaxing his hot sperm like it had a mind and will of its own, as I climaxed hard on his rigid shaft.
I was smiling, grunting, grinding. Spreading my thighs wide to take him deeper, as he pumped and churned and flooded my womb.
I finished with my hands palms down, my fingers clutched deep into the soft ground. I could feel the grass between my fingers. The soil in my fists. I felt like an earth-goddess, or some sort of bare-assed, nature-worshiping bohemian.
And my lover, hovering above me. His warm seed, inside me.
Kissing his way down my neck…
“I’m starting to like this place again,” I murmured softly into the summer wind.
Thirty-One
MADISON
“He’s late,” Noah said again, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it myself. He’s never late.”
We were standing in the mill tower, which was looking pretty damned good. I’d just spent almost an hour prepping for the day with Noah, my work gloves pulled up to my elbows.
Only Julian hadn’t shown up.
“Maybe he’s not coming?” Noah offered. He saw the look of disappointment in my face. “You know… just today, I mean.”
He knew what I was thinking: that maybe I’d finally lost him. That after all this work without pay, maybe I’d driven my stonemason off.
Nothing lasts forever, a little voice sounded. It was almost sing-songy. Admonishing.
“He was supposed to finish the wall today,” I said sullenly. “We were going to start the courtyard.”
“It could be he’s sick,” said Noah with a shrug.
Yeah, right. A man like Julian didn’t get sick. Germs bounced off of him. He laughed at sickness.
I glanced down at my phone for the fourth or fifth time. Still nothing. No calls, no messages — nothing indicating the mason wouldn’t be in.
Could you really blame him though?
I could and I couldn’t. I wanted to believe — with all my heart — that mine and Julian’s relationship extended beyond employer and employee. At least, it sure did for me.
At the same time, if he took off for greener pastures? I’d have to understand. I’d have to appreciate the extra work he’d already put in, and try not to—
“Ah, here’s Chase,” said Noah, rubbing his stomach. “Finally.”
Noah’s truck rolled in, with Chase at the wheel. He skidded to a dusty, graveled stop. Smiled his familiar smile, as he jumped down from the big cab.
“Where’s Juli—”
Noah shrugged and cut him off, grabbing at the bag in Chase’s hand. Breakfast, finally, but it would be worth the wait. There was only one place nearby that could approximate anything close to American bacon, and thankfully it did it well.
“Did you get extra ketchup?”
Chase sighed dramatically. “Damn, I knew I forgot something.”
“What about—”
Noah stopped abruptly mid-sentence. Moving so fast I almost didn’t see, he reached out and swiped the sunglasses straight off Chase’s face.
“You asshole!” Noah shouted.
My confusion was made even more apparent by my sudden gasp. Chase’s entire left eye was puffy and swollen. Around the edges, everything was black and blue.
“You went and saw him?” Noah seethed.
“Calm down.”
“After everything we talked about! You went there all by yourself?”
My midnight lover looked ready to kick Chase’s ass. The only thing stopping him was that Chase had apparently already gotten his ass kicked.
“Why the fuck would you try something that stupid?” Noah cried. “After what he did the other day, and you go there alone? And without anything to even…”
His sentence trailed off as he suddenly realized something: I was standing there, listening.
“Anything to even what?” I asked.
Neither man said a word. I was at Chase’s side now, pulling my glove off to gingerly touch the side of his swollen face.
“What happened, Chase?”
The beautiful green eyes I loved so much remained pointed at the ground. He shuffled his feet.
“Nothing,” he said. “Stupid bar fight, that’s all.”
“Yeah right,” I smirked.
“Seriously,” said Chase. “I was in a bar, had a few drinks… and had it out with an old friend.”
“Bullshit.” I dabbed at his eye with a clean tissue from my pocket. “You’re an American who came here only a couple of years ago,” I said. “You don’t have any ‘old friends.’”
Chase let out a short laugh, then looked to Noah. “Wow. She’s good.”
“Too good,” Noah admitted.
“Good enough to tell me what’s going on?” I demanded. “Or are we going to lie about something as stupid as a black eye?”
There was an awkward pause as the men looked at each other again.
“There’s nothing really to lie about,” said Chase fina
lly. He took the bag back from Noah and began handing out the breakfast sandwiches. “I was at a bar—”
“Which bar?”
“The Norman—” A scathing glance from Noah forced him to cut himself off again, but it was too late.
“The Normandy Inn,” I finished for him. “Go on.”
Chase shrugged. “And that’s it, really. I wised off to the wrong guy. You know I’m a wise-ass. That part’s indisputable.”
“And what do they look like?” asked Noah. His emphasis on the word ‘they’ was troubling.
“Pretty much like me,” said Chase. “Only with missing teeth instead of black eyes.”
We made our way slowly back to the truck, which was our makeshift breakfast table. Noah was already spreading out the wrapper of his sandwich. Chase however, was limping.
“Your leg too?” I asked in alarm.
“Ribs,” said Chase, holding his side.
“Oh honey…”
“Trust me, it’s nothing,” he smiled again. “They got it worse — they look much uglier than me.”
“They were ugly to begin with,” said Noah, popping the top on his coffee.
“Still, I—”
A background noise became a loud rumble, as Julian’s truck pulled up noisily. My heart soared. My whole body flooded with relief and happiness.
Thank God.
Noah and Chase were covering their sandwiches with their hands. But I didn’t care. I ran through the dust-plume and straight up to the side of his truck…
… which was somehow pulling a trailer, filled with lumber and supplies.
“Oh my God…”
Now Noah and Chase did come, making their way over as Julian leapt from his truck. He went to the back, and immediately opened the trailer’s gate.
“The missing supplies!” I cried joyfully. “This… this is everything that was missing from—”
“Yes.”
Julian lifted three great beams onto his shoulder. Before he could take a step though, we were all standing in front of him.
“How the hell did you find them?” asked Noah. “The guys who took our stuff?”
“And what do they look like now?” smirked Chase.
“I didn’t,” answered Julian. He should’ve been strained from holding up so much weight, but his voice hardly changed at all. “This isn’t our original stuff.”
My brows crossed in confusion. So did the others.
“I placed a re-order,” Julian said simply. “Now hurry up and help me unload this stuff. I only have an hour to get their trailer back, or they’re going to charge me for—”
I pushed past Chase and Noah, to stand between them and Julian. “Wait a minute!” I cried, my voice cracking. My heart was heavy, totally laden with emotion now. “W—Where did you get the money for all this?”
Noah walked to the supply pile and dropped his load. The timbers clacked loudly against each other on the graveled earth.
“I have a little savings,” he shrugged simply.
Thirty-Two
MADISON
The day wore on. The wall got finished. The rest of us let up a little cheer as Julian laid the last of the stones, and then went right to work on the courtyard, without even stopping to take a break.
Chase and Noah worked late as well, straight into the night. They gave me two very long kisses goodbye, their hands roaming everywhere as they took turns making out with me. It was insane, how wet I got. How crazily turned on I was by the time their truck rumbled down the driveway, leaving just me, Julian, and the rest of the night.
Dinner had been ready for an hour when I found him still kneeling over the flagstones, digging and excavating, cementing and resetting the ancient cobbles. He was like a machine. A big, delicious, well-muscled machine that I couldn’t honestly believe was all mine.
“Come inside baby,” I urged, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Please.”
He finally did, and I served us two re-heated plates while he washed up and sank heavily into his chair. For the first time since I’d known him, he actually looked tired.
“Eat,” I said sliding a cold beer his way. “After that…” I smiled warmly. “I’m going to take care of you.”
Julian didn’t just eat, he inhaled his food. He got up for seconds, helped himself to thirds while he was there, and then sat back down.
“Glad you like it,” I chuckled, spearing a little round potato on my fork.
“It’s good,” he mumbled. Then, looking up: “Real good.”
It was such a relief, seeing him arrive this morning. And not just show up when I’d thought I’d lost him, but actually pay money out of his own pocket in order to round out the supplies we so desperately needed.
God, I love him.
The words just tumbled out of my head. I did love him. And not just because he was helping me, but because of the man he was. The type of person who would go out of his way — and even put himself at a disadvantage — for his friends. The type of guy who appreciated me enough to work for free. To finish a job he was no longer paid to do.
Aren’t they all doing that, though?
They were. All three of them. Each of them sacrificing time and money to help me reach my end goal. I loved them for that. Noah, Chase, and yes, Julian. My friends. My lovers. My three sexy saviors.
All three of them were equally amazing.
I twisted the cap off another beer as Julian’s phone rang for the second time. It happened to be facing me, and I ‘happened’ to see it. Both times, the name ARIANA popped up on the screen… along with a breathtaking photo of a beautiful young woman.
Julian didn’t answer it either time. He just kept eating. When I saw a voicemail message pop up, my stomach twisted itself into a knot.
“You’re thinking I have more than a cat at home, aren’t you?”
He said the words without looking up. I shrugged. “Not that that’s entirely my business… but the thought had crossed my mind.”
“Well you have nothing to worry about,” said Julian.
“I’m not, I’m just sayin—”
“Ariana is my sister.”
I blinked three times. “Oh. Okay.” The knot untied itself.
“I’ll call her back later,” he said. “It’s still early in Colorado.”
“I didn’t know you had siblings,” I said, suddenly interested. “Or… wow, Colorado? Really?”
He nodded and tipped back his beer. “I’ve got two sisters and a brother. All younger. All still back home.”
“What are their names?”
“Ariana, Jenna, Antonio,” he replied. “Ariana’s the oldest. She runs things over there.” He chuckled, looking nowhere in particular. “Or maybe Antonio does by now, I’m not really sure.”
It occurred to me how little I actually knew about the man sitting across from me. He’d never offered. But at the same time, I’d never asked. It wasn’t an excuse though. After all, he’d made so much time for me.
“How old are they?”
“Sixteen, twelve and nine.”
“Wow,” I gasped. “You’re the older brother!”
“Twenty-four,” he confirmed. “Yeah.”
I tipped a glass of wine his way. “Cheers to your mom,” I smiled. “She must be a busy woman.”
Julian’s uncharacteristic smile faded almost instantly. Right away, I regretted my words.
“Sorry,” I said. “Did I say something wron—”
“No. No, you didn’t.”
I took the plates to the sink. Rinsed them. Dried them.
“Then what?” I finally asked.
Julian leaned back in his chair like always. He gave me a hard look with his steel grey eyes, but somewhere in the middle, I saw them soften too. After a moment of consideration, he let out a long sigh.
“Get yourself a beer,” he said. “And I’ll tell you.”
Thirty-Three
JULIAN
“I came from hardship,” I began, choosing the words slowly and car
efully. “We didn’t have much, but at least we had each other. For most of my childhood, that was all that mattered.”
She was sitting across from me, eyeing me intensely. Really listening to what I had to say, which was something I’d always found rare.
“Is that what this means?” Madison asked, reaching out to touch my arm. She slid a slender finger along one of my tattoos. The one that said MEMORIES OVER MATERIAL.
I nodded slowly. “That’s exactly right.”
“I love that philosophy too,” she said, leaning a bit closer. Her sapphire eyes sparked. “Go on.”
God, she was so fucking beautiful. So incredibly attractive, inside and out. As a woman, she was everything I could physically hope for; long-haired, curvy, absolutely gorgeous. But as a person…
As a person she was even more wonderful. I’d admired Madison from the beginning, even before her uncle got sick. She was strong and independent, almost to the point of fearlessness. Best of all, she wasn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty.
When Travis got sick, she took care of him — dedicated every last ounce of her time to him. She did it lovingly, too, and without expectation. She took the whole sad ride with nothing but her uncle’s own love and gratitude in reciprocation.
It was a ride I knew well. One that was both beautiful and painful to watch.
“When I was just a teenager, my father got abruptly sick,” I said. “Cancer. Stage four. It happened within weeks, not years. A nightmare whirlwind of hospital visits and failing treatments, and then he was gone.”
Her beautiful face went white with sorrow. Genuine sorrow too, coming from someone who understood.
“Oh Julian… I’m so, so sorry.”
“I know you are,” I said simply. “Of all people, you’re one who could actually understand.” I reached out and set my bottle down, empty. “That’s why I just told you.”
She was smart enough to stay quiet. To let me continue, rather than take the opportunity to talk.
“We had so many fun times as a family,” I said, looking down at my tattoo. “But after he was gone, it all fell apart. Everything decayed, even the house. I watched it all go to shit, despite trying my best to keep up with it.”
