Four of Hearts

by Roz Lee

Fallon caught the first tender to the island on Friday, along with the catering supplies needed to feed a couple thousand passengers for the shore day. She could have asked one of the parasailing boats to take her around the island to Candace and Ryan’s house, but the walk was short, if you knew where you were going. She’d made the trek many times, and welcomed the few minutes of solitude. She and Richard maintained a similar home on their own island, but with construction on the resort on the other side of their slice of paradise, peace and quiet were a thing of the past. A week alone with Candace was just what she needed, especially with Richard behaving like a cave man.

  Candace greeted her with a cup of tea and homemade scones served on the lanai. “Where’s Ryan?”

  “He went for his morning run. He got a late start today, but he should be back soon.”

  “I can’t imagine what would detain Ryan so early in the morning,” Fallon teased.

  Candace blushed. God, she was cute when she was flustered. “Well, I’m not telling.”

  “Richard was refereeing another Drew vs. Bree fight when I left. He would have been stuck to me like glue otherwise.” Fallon closed her eyes and took a cleansing breath. “It feels so good to be here. Richard has been a barnacle on my backside the last two weeks. I love him, but there might be such a thing as too much togetherness.”

  “Richard, too?” Candace asked. “Ryan has been the same way. We had a good talk about it, and he’s better, I think. At least he went for a run today. He hasn’t done that since the last time we were on the ship.”

  “Any idea what’s up with them?”

  “I think our partner exchange freaked Ryan out. He was afraid he was going to lose me, or something. I’m not entirely sure, but I made it clear I wasn’t going anywhere. It seems to have helped.”

  “That could be what’s bugging Richard, but I don’t think so. I wear his collar for heaven’s sake. Where does he think I’d go?” She fingered the gold band around her neck. Every time she touched it she remembered her bond with Richard. The collar, more than her wedding band, symbolized what he meant to her.

  “Beats me. Men are unfathomable creatures.”

  “No we’re not,” Ryan said from the door. He placed a long, slow kiss on Candace’s lips. “Did you miss me?”

  “Only a little,” Candace teased.

  Ryan turned to Fallon. “Good morning, Fallon.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. A tingle of awareness ran through her at his touch. Was it her imagination, or did his lips linger a fraction longer than was customary? Before she could decide, he moved to Candace’s side and pulled a chair close, winding his fingers with hers. “Where’s your unfathomable creature?”

  The women shared an understanding look as Fallon explained about Drew and Bree’s latest altercation. “I’m sure Richard will be here as soon as he figures out I left the ship.”

  “His loss is our gain.”

  “She’s not lost, she’s mine.” Richard loomed large in the doorway. His voice gave way his displeasure at her leaving the ship without him. “I told you to wait for me.”

  What was there to say to that? She knew he’d expected her to wait, and she’d chosen not to. “As you can see, I made it just fine, all on my own. I’m not six. I don’t need a babysitter.”

  Richard’s eyes met hers. There was something primal in the way his gaze raked over her. A shimmer of awareness shot through her.

  “You need a spanking. Stand up, Fallon.”

  An invisible current charged the air around them. Time slowed. Her fingers found the collar around her neck and she knew she would obey, even before she pushed her chair back and stood.

  “Over here.” Richard pointed to a spot in front of him. Fallon’s heart raced. “Drop your shorts and bend over.”

  Oh God. Her ass would be displayed for Ryan and Candace. Her pussy flooded at the thought of what was about to happen. Would Ryan and Candace join them? She stifled a groan as her fingers fumbled on the button at her waist. She managed to slip it from its moorings and slide the zipper down. Her turquoise crew-issue shorts fell to her ankles and she bent over, bracing her hands on her knees. A warm breeze fanned her damp and swollen tissues. She hung her head, anticipating the first bite of pain that would quickly morph to pleasure.

  “Jesus, Richard,” Ryan spoke. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Richard’s hand smoothed over the globes of her ass in a soft caress. Her heart lodged in her throat and her pussy creamed. They’d played at spanking many times before, but not like this. This was spontaneous, and. . . real. . . and arousing as hell.

  “I’m spanking my wife. What does it look like?

  “Richard,” Ryan warned.

  “She’s my wife. She was supposed to wait for me.” Richard stated, and then she understood. It was just as Candace had suspected. Richard was afraid of losing her, and in his own way, he was staking his claim in front of Ryan. She was more than willing to let them both have anything they wanted, as long as it involved her.

  His hand landed with a smack that reverberated off the still air. The sting subsided as Richard soothed her heated flesh with a soft caress. He landed another solid smack on the other cheek.

  “That’s enough.” Ryan stepped between them. “Candace, take care of Fallon. Richard and I are going for a walk.”

  Fallon stood and watched, mouth gaping as Ryan escorted her husband down the path leading off the lanai. She jumped when Candace laid a soft hand on her heated ass.

  “Are you okay?” Candace asked.

  “I’m fine, and more than a little sexually frustrated,” she admitted. “What just happened here? I was about to get some really good sex, and Ryan just took off with my husband.” Candace’s hand soothed the tender skin where Richard had spanked her.

  “Did you know Richard was going to do that?”

  “Yes, I knew. He’d promised me a spanking this morning, but I left before he got around to it. Did Ryan think Richard was mad at me?”

  “I think so. He didn’t have the same angle I did. I saw the way Richard looked at you. He was something, but mad wasn’t it.”

  “Horny? Possessive?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

  “Your hand feels good,” Fallon flexed her hips, pressing her ass harder against Candace’s hand. “I could use a good massage, since I’m not going to get what I really want.”

  “Let’s use the hammock.” Candace indicated the canvas sling hanging near the edge of the lanai. “I’ll get some lotion from the house. It’ll help take the sting out.”

  Fallon stepped out of her shorts, pulled off her polo top, and stretched out on her stomach in the hammock. The day was heating up quickly, but in the shade, the cool air felt good on her ass. Richard had landed two good ones, and she had been looking forward to him soothing the hurt away.

  Candace returned and stretched out beside Fallon on the doublewide hammock. She propped on one elbow and squirted cool lotion on Fallon’s ass. “Oh God, that feels good.” Candace massaged the lotion in. “Don’t stop,” Fallon encouraged.

  “Your skin is so soft. I love touching you.” Candace squirted more lotion and continued the massage to the small of her back, and over her ribcage to her shoulders.

  “I love it when you touch me. Your hands are so gentle.” Candace traced one finger along Fallon’s spine to the small of her back. When her hand closed over her ass and squeezed, Fallon turned her head.

  Their eyes met and held. Fallon’s heartbeat rippled like a palm in the summer breeze. She hardly dared breathe.

  Candace dipped her head and her lips touched Fallon’s; light at first, then firmer. Fallon returned her kiss. When Candace swept her tongue across the seam of her lips, Fallon opened for her. Their tongues dueled, exploring, tasting. Fallon twisted so she was on her side, facing Candace, then they rolled as one. Fallon pulled Candace half on top of her and slipped a hand under her top.

  Sweet Jesus. Candace’s nipple jabbed her palm. Every time she was around Ca
ndace, she wanted to touch her this way, but she’d never had the nerve to approach her. Now, Candace more than offered, and Fallon wasn’t about to turn it down. She was way too horny to contemplate it. Besides, if Richard and Ryan refused to satisfy her, she saw nothing wrong with accepting it from Candace.

  Candace moaned when Fallon’s hand closed over her breast. She broke the kiss long enough to toss her top off. The hammock swung as Candace shimmied out of her shirt.

  “Do that again,” Candace said. Fallon cupped her friend’s generous breast in her palm and thrilled as her nipple hardened beneath her touch.

  “Touch me,” Fallon begged. She took Candace’s hand and placed it on her mound. Fallon spread her legs for Candace’s touch. “I need. . . .”

  Candace broke the kiss. Their eyes met and Fallon saw a need equal to her own in Candace’s gaze. “I know,” Candace said. Her fingers delved into Fallon’s folds and Fallon gasped at her light touch. “You’re wet. He shouldn’t have left you wanting.”

  “I need to touch you.” Fallon went to work on the button at Candace’s waist. Candace shifted and allowed Fallon to strip her shorts and panties past her hips. She kicked them the rest of the way off and Fallon buried her fingers between Candace’s legs. Her heart tripped at what she found there. “You’re wet, too.” Her voice was raw with emotion.

  “I couldn’t help it. Watching Richard spank you did it for me.” Candace’s fingers continued to explore at will. Fallon was on the edge. Candace’s fingers slid through her juices, teasing. Fallon opened for her, and Candace slid a finger, then two, or maybe more inside her. Fallon closed her eyes and savored the fullness between her legs, matched by the fullness in her heart. God, Candace’s touch felt good. Light, yet firm and demanding. An urgency began to build low in her pelvis.

  “Let me taste you,” Fallon lifted her head to Candace’s breast and drew the hard nipple into her mouth. Candace moaned and leaned closer, silently giving Fallon better access. She tasted sweet, like coconut and smelled like a tropical paradise. The heat between Candace’s legs trickled over her fingers. She needed. . . “God, Candy, make me come. Please.”

  Fallon’s hips came off the hammock to meet Candace’s questing fingers, as they pumped in and out, accompanied by a wet, sucking sound that drove Fallon wild. She returned the favor, finding Candace’s tight sheath with her fingers. Candace clamped her thighs around Fallon’s hand and rode her wrist hard. They ground against each other, writhing, panting, finger fucking. “Ahh, Candy I’m. . . .”

  The orgasm hit her fast and hard. With her free hand, she drew Candace’s mouth to hers and plundered, even as her fingers offered Candace the same release. Fallon’s body sucked at Candace’s fingers, and Fallon marveled at the strength of Candace’s orgasm as her friend convulsed around Fallon’s invading fingers.

  They held each other until the last rogue waves of release ceased. Only then did they slip their fingers from each other. They lay facing, caressing softly, raining soft kisses against swollen lips, their husbands’ defection forgotten in the aftermath of satiation.

  * * * * *

  Ryan was in the mood to kick ass. “What was that about?” he demanded as soon as they were out of earshot of the women.

  “I was about to have some hanky-spanky with my wife, but you put an end to that. Care to tell me why?”

  “Why? Are you insane? You can’t hit your wife and demand sex from her as punishment.”

  Richard had the nerve to laugh. “I wasn’t punishing her. I promised her a spanking and some hot sex to go with it this morning, but I had to go throw cold water on Drew and Bree instead. When I got back, she was gone. She knew I’d come after her and deliver what I promised. I’ve always wanted to have her in that hammock of yours.” He looked back up the path. “I’ve got to get me one of those for our place.”

  “You’re an ass.”

  “I may be an ass, but I don’t hit my wife, or anyone else, in anger. It was only a spanking, and a sexual one at that. You know me better than that.”

  Ryan picked up a shell along the surf line and flung it out to sea. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Jesus, Richard. Don’t flaunt your wife’s ass in front of me, okay?”

  “Is there something wrong with Fallon’s ass?”

  “Just the one named Richard. The other one is just fine, and that’s something I shouldn’t be noticing.”

  “I thought we were past the modesty phase. You’ve seen Fallon’s ass up close, more than once.”

  “God damnit, Richard! I saw your handprints on her and I. . .I don’t know, I just. . . ”

  “Wanted to put a few there yourself?”

  “Maybe.” He kicked a lump of dried seaweed. “I’m married, not dead.”

  “Why don’t we go back to the house and see if we can give that hammock another go? Is it big enough for four?”

  Richard swept his hand out like a theatre usher and Ryan started up the trail ahead of him. “No. It’s not big enough for four, but you and Fallon can give it a try. It makes Candace dizzy, which isn’t a bad thing sometimes.”

  “I can do dizzy.”

  Ryan heard them before he saw them. He turned and put a finger to his lips, telling Richard to be quiet. They waited in silence. A distinctly female moan floated on the humid air, and the two men looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Richard shoved Ryan and they continued on the trail at a slower, quieter pace.

  They crouched low on the path and watched. “Well, shit,” Richard whispered close to Ryan’s ear. “They started without us.”

  Ryan looked over his shoulder at his friend. “Ass,” he hissed, and turned back to the scene playing out in his hammock. He didn’t know which he wanted more—to watch to the inevitable end, or dive in between them and be a part of their lovemaking. Given that there wasn’t room in the hammock for all of them, a problem he made a mental note to solve, he opted to watch.

  From the looks of it, they’d missed a good portion of the encounter. Having had both women, he recognized the signs. Both were on the brink. Richard breathed down his neck and he shrugged his shoulders in disgust and waved him back a respectable distance. Just because their wives enjoyed each other, didn’t give mean he had to show Richard the same consideration. The damned bastard could find his own vantage point to watch from.

  Richard dropped to his haunches beside Ryan. “Damn. I wonder what we missed.”

  “Shut up,” Ryan mouthed and returned his attention to the women. Good God, they were beautiful. Intertwined the way they were, they moved as one.

  Fallon begged Candace to make her come and Richard turned to him and mouthed, “Candy?” Ryan shrugged. It was the first time he’d heard anyone other than himself use the shortened version of his wife’s name.

  Beside him, Richard choked back a strangled groan as Fallon found her release first. Ryan couldn’t take his eyes off their wives. When Candace went over the edge, he almost exploded in his shorts. Shit. He knew Candace had feelings for Fallon, but he had no idea they went this deep. Richard tapped him on the shoulder and signaled for them to go back the way they’d come.

  They crept toward the beach, picking up their pace only after they were sure they were far enough away that the women couldn’t see or hear them.

  “What the. . .” Richard started.

  “Don’t ask me! I knew they had a special bond, but this. . . well, this is. . . .”

  “Fucking hot?”

  “Yeah, that about covers it.”

  “So, what are we going to do about it?”

  Ryan sat hard in the sand and lay back. The hot sand felt good on his skin, and coupled with the sun beating down on him, helped ease his tight muscles. Richard joined him.

  “What can we do?” Ryan asked. “If Candace wants to. . .with Fallon, I don’t have any objection. I don’t want her to hide it from me though.”

  “You think they’ve been holding out on us?”

  “No. I think that was the first time. Candace
told me about the suntan lotion thing that happened between them the first week we all met. I don’t think she’d do something like what we just saw, and not tell me.”

  “You’re right. So, what do we do now? Act like we didn’t see, or tell them thanks for the show?”

  “At the risk of getting something thrown at me, I’m going to say we go with thanks for the show. I haven’t lied to Candace, and I’m not going to start now.”

  “Good point. Maybe if they know we’re okay with it, they’ll let us watch up close next time.”

  “Shit! I almost came in my shorts watching them. I don’t think I could be closer and not touch them.”

  “Yeah, me either.” Ryan heard the smile in Richard’s voice. “Damn, we’ve got to be the luckiest bastards on the planet.”

  Ryan couldn’t think of a rebuttal to that statement so he remained quiet. They lay in silence for a few minutes, then Ryan stood. “I’m going for a swim, then we’d better go back. We’ve got to address this before we go back to the ship. The girls are going to be alone here for the next week. I don’t want Candace to think she has to hide anything from me, if they feel the need to satisfy each other again.”

  Richard joined him and they walked into the surf. “Damn. I wish I could stay with them for this week.” He dove under the surf, and Ryan followed.

  Chapter Ten

  Candace wrapped a towel around her and stepped out of the shower. Through the open bathroom door, she caught sight of Ryan sitting on the end of the bed. “You’re back,” she said as she headed for the closet. “Did you set Richard straight?”

  “More like he set me straight. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  She prowled through the hangers looking for the sundress she wanted. “You were thinking he might hurt Fallon. You reacted.” She found the dress and turned with it in her hand. “It’s natural to want to protect your loved ones.”

  “I don’t love. . . .”

  “Ryan,” she dropped the towel and pulled the dress over her head. “Let’s not go there again. You can deny it all you want, but you love Fallon, and,” she shimmied into the dress, “that’s okay with me. I love her, too.”