Nailing Studs: A Contemporary Reverse Harem Romance

by Virna DePaul

  “Holy shit,” I blurted out, and all three guys laughed.

  There, in the kitchen was an oven any professional baker would drool over. It was top of the line, the newest technology, the most respected name in the field. I ran my hands over it in awe. It was a piece of art.

  “Guys,” I started, realizing there was no way I could keep it. “Guys, this must have cost a fortune. I, I—”

  Dom interrupted, wrapping his arm around my waist. “Don’t worry about the money, Kayla. It’s money well spent. And you are not taking it back.”

  I didn’t know what to say. They’d done this for me, but I was leaving—soon, this would all be over. I stared into Dom’s dark, deep, vulnerable eyes and felt my heart break.

  “Kayla, the tour continues this way.”

  I glanced up to find Logan speaking to me. “Continues?” I asked. “This wasn’t it?”

  “Just the start, gorgeous. Follow me,” Logan said. Dom kept me steady as we walked into the study, Taylor on our heels.

  My eyes swept the room. “Um, new chair?” I asked, not noticing anything out of place.

  “Look higher,” Logan said, nodding to the wall.

  There was a framed document hanging there that I’d missed. I slipped from Dom’s arm and moved to stand next to Logan to get a closer look. I squealed when I read what it was.

  “We got it?”

  Logan grinned. “We got it.”

  I leaped into his arms and he spun me around the den. Tabitha’s pride and joy was officially a Historic Site. Her smile would have been so big and bright, learning this news.

  Logan placed me on the floor. “A Historic Site comes with serious tax breaks, government aid, and special allowances,” he explained as I tried to pay attention over my happiness.

  My high spirits slipped away as I realized that even with tax cuts, I still wouldn’t be able to afford to live here. But how incredibly sweet for Logan to have tried.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I whispered to Logan. “I just—”

  He pressed a kiss to my lips and then pulled me in tight. After a moment I heard Taylor clear his throat.

  “Last but not least,” he said, holding out his hand to me. “Close your eyes.”

  I took his hand in mine and followed behind him as he led me. “Where are we going?”

  “Into the past,” was all he said. Then he stopped me, and whispered, “Open up.”

  I slowly opened my eyes and tears immediately welled up. We were in the sun room, and…

  “You found it,” I whispered. I fell to my knees by an antique wooden coffee table sitting in the center of the room. I ran my fingers along the leg and found my initials from so long ago.

  I cried in joy as Logan, Taylor, and Dom all gathered around me on the floor.

  “How did you—how—”

  “Lots of calls, lots of estate sale searching, lots of dead ends, and one lucky break,” Taylor explained softly. “But, Kayla, I would have searched to the ends of the earth to find it for you. We all would have. I want you to know that.”

  I kissed each in turn and wiped at my wet eyes. “What does all this mean?” I asked shakily, nerves jangling.

  “These gifts—they are your past, your present, and your future. The coffee table, the oven, the Historic Site Certificate,” Logan said. “And Kayla, we want to be your past, your present, your future. Your everything. All three of us.”

  “But…but…we have to sell the house. Even with tax breaks, I know I won’t be able to afford to live in Tabitha’s house. And I need to pay you guys what I owe you.” I gestured to Taylor and Dom, “I have to do that. You two have put so much of your own money into the renovations already.” Tears choked me, but I pressed on, appreciative of how patiently the men were waiting for me to finish. “I’d planned to tell you all tonight that we have to set a date for the sale. And as soon as Tabitha’s house sells, I’ll have to move.”

  The three men glanced at each other, then Taylor said quietly, “We know. But we also know that in today’s market, selling will take a couple of months at least, and we still have about a month’s worth of work left on this place. So we’re looking at us all being together here, in this place, for three, four more months. We know you may need to leave Fosterman when this house sells. But who knows what can happen in three months? And just because you leave Fosterman, it doesn't necessarily mean what we have has to end.”

  “Exactly,” Dom said, interrupting, his voice low and full of emotion. “Time has a habit of changing everything.”

  Logan cleared his throat. “So for now…”

  I looked from Logan to Taylor to Dom. “What exactly are you saying?” I whispered.

  It was Dom who took my hand and said the words. “We want to be with you. Even after you sell the house, even if you have to leave Fosterman, we want to be with you. As a…well…a unit, I guess.”

  “The four of us…all four of us?”

  “If you don’t think you can handle it, then you can choose one of us,” Dom nuzzled his nose into my neck. “Though I’m pretty sure I know who you’d choose,” he taunted for the benefit of the other guys, who rolled their eyes.

  “Cocky,” I scolded him in a choked, laughing voice, and even though I wanted him so badly, even though I felt drawn to Dominic so deeply that something elemental in me reacted to being this close to him, I knew I could never choose between the three of them.

  I needed them all—Dominic’s rough edges yet hidden sweetness, Taylor’s cocky sex appeal, and Logan’s dominating sophistication that hid a kinky side. They all enhanced my life. “I could never choose between you guys,” I admitted.

  “You don’t have to,” Taylor assured me. “We’ve been with women one-on-one, and we’ve been with women with other guys, some relationships more serious than others, but nothing we’ve ever experienced has been like what we have with you. We want to keep it, Kayla. Let’s see where this takes us.”

  I hitched a breath, incredulous. Was he saying what I thought he was saying, or was I hearing what I wanted to hear?

  “You get what you need from each of us,” Logan added, “and we get to give it to you. We get to be with you, but we get some independence, too. We need to be able to have our own lives, and it really helps when you have two other guys to pick up the slack with that relationship. That way, we all get to give you the best of us but we never have to let you down.”

  “And that’s just how it would work, going forward?” I asked. “Sounds good in theory, but…”

  “It works, Kayla. With the right group of people, and we have the right group of people. We know where you’ll live after selling the house is uncertain, but we’re willing to take that gamble. See where this goes. All you have to do is say yes.” Dom leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. Then he stepped aside and Taylor and then Logan each moved in for a kiss. When Logan pulled back, I was breathless and smiling. There was nothing more to think about. I really did want this. I didn’t know how it’d all pan out in the future, but for now, this was what I wanted.

  “Yes,” I said. Smiling, I said it again. “Yes.”

  22

  Kayla

  “Pop the champagne, Taylor!” I called into the kitchen where Taylor was fumbling with the large bottle of sparkling wine I’d picked up for this very occasion. The Fix-It Guys work was now complete. Tabitha’s house had been fully renovated, and tomorrow, Logan would list it for sale. My heart ached, but I was determined to put on a happy face and celebrate what my guys had achieved.

  I couldn’t believe how different this place looked compared to when they’d first started work. Compared to what it had looked like four months ago, when I had first moved in, it felt like a new house entirely. The biggest difference was all the light that streamed in from every corner, the way it lit up every inch of this place. The boys had repainted it from top to bottom as well, giving the place an almost ethereal feeling with soft dove greys and whites and yellows. These guys knew what the
y were doing. In more ways than one.

  They weren’t called the Fix-It Guys for nothing.

  “There, got it!” Taylor called through from the kitchen, and I headed through to help him out with pouring the glasses for us. He put the bottle down and slipped an arm around my waist, pulling me in good and close for a moment.

  “Mmm.” He nuzzled my neck. “Sure I can’t get you to myself just for tonight?”

  “Maybe another day,” I suggested, but I didn’t have the heart to peel him off of me. I didn’t want to. Because once the house sold, I knew everything would be different. They’d said they still wanted to be with me, but they had their roots here in Fosterman. Even if we tried to keep things going, with me working in the Bay Area, Taylor and Dom here, and Logan traveling for work…it wouldn’t be the same.

  It could never work.

  I hadn’t told them that, but it had been my private fear.

  One that was now threatening to suffocate me.

  Tears pricked the back of my eyelids but I blinked, hard, warding off the building emotions. I would not show the guys how scared I was.

  “Hey, you two!” Dominic called as he sauntered into the kitchen. “I wanted a drink, not to watch you make out.”

  “Jealous?” Taylor tightened his grip on me.

  “Obviously,” Dominic replied with a smile. He poured the sparkling wine for us and distributed the glasses, handing the last one to Logan as he made his way into the room.

  “I can’t believe it’s all finished.” I sighed, looking around the place once more, authentic pleasure at the renovations brushing away my earlier worry. “It’s just…it only feels like yesterday that you guys first came here.”

  “Yeah, well, not so much when you’re the one doing all the work on this place,” Logan jibed.

  “Hey there, you’ve helped us on a few jobs here and there. Don’t get cocky,” Taylor admonished.

  Logan just grinned, then took a sip of his champagne and made a face. “Kayla, let me choose the champagne next time.”

  Taylor lifted his glass. “To finishing Tabitha’s house.”

  “To finishing Tabitha’s house,” we all said, and clinked our drinks together.

  I enjoyed the feeling of his arm still around me. This week had been crazy-busy, and I hadn’t had time to be with them in any intimate way. I had all this pent-up sexual energy that needed unleashing. For years, I’d always thought I didn’t have that high of a sex drive because the boyfriends I’d been with had never held my attention that long. But I’d learned so much about myself these last few months. I now understood that I’d simply been waiting for the right guys to come along and fix that. My Fix-It Guys indeed. Turned out that all this time I’d needed three of them to fulfill me.

  I’m just that high maintenance, I thought to myself with an inward grin.

  “To restoring Tabitha’s dream home and making…” But I couldn’t finish. I choked up. I wanted to say my guys had made my dreams come true. They’d given me my life back, but now I couldn’t imagine selling this home. All of Tabitha’s memories were here, all her energy and now mine. And all of ours now, too. I wasn’t just about to lose Tabitha all over again, I was about to lose my heart. “I’m sorry,” I squeaked.

  Taylor swept me up in his arms, and next thing I knew, we were all ensconced in a big, group hug. “Don’t. It’s okay, Kayla.”

  “Enough of this bullshit. We need to tell her,” Logan said.

  I shifted, and they all backed away. “Tell me what?”

  Taylor took my hands. “We want you to keep the house. We want to move in with you. Between all of us, we can easily pay the property taxes and the energy bill and the cost of maintaining the place. You don’t have to move away. You can quit your job and find something you really love. You’ve got that gigantic oven now—you could have your own home bakery, like how you dreamed of. Make special order stuff like wedding cakes and shit. I’ll bet the diner would buy your pies and cakes on a daily basis. Screw driving all the way to the East Bay. Stay here. With us.”

  My head was spinning. They’d already told me they wanted to stay together after I sold the house. I just hadn’t seen how that could happen. But they’d found a way to make it happen. To not have to sell the house at all.

  They were handing me my dreams on a silver platter. These men were my angels.

  “You remember the drill, don’t you, Kayla,” Logan teased. “You just need to say yes if you want it, too. If you want us.” Then he added, winking, “I never submitted the paperwork to list the house for sale, just so you know.”

  They’d tortured me by holding this in until now, so even though I wanted to, I didn’t say yes right away. After all, I had to keep my studs on their toes.

  “Hmm,” I said, wiping my tears and turning back on my sassy voice. “I don’t know. All four of us? Living in this house? Are you sure it would work out? All of us in one bed? Because while I have a vague recollection of that going fairly well…”

  The three of them snorted simultaneously, and I shrugged, eyes purposefully wide. “Hey, it’s been so long, you can’t blame me for wanting to get in another session before I give you such an important answer, right?”

  “Damn straight, woman,” Logan said with a grin.

  “Of course.” Dominic’s voice held that throaty tension again.

  “So, what do you have in mind?” Taylor asked, his eyes already blazing with desire.

  “Instead of telling you, why don’t I show you?” I turned and glanced coyly over my shoulder, then led the three of them to the living room. There, I downed the rest of my glass of champagne and looked out of the enormous window that stared out over the driveway. Chewing my lip, I wondered how likely it was that someone was going to drive up and catch me with the three of them. And then I remembered—I didn’t care and neither did they.

  We weren’t hiding anything.

  “Kayla, what are we doing?” Taylor asked.

  I finished the rest of my drink and placed it down on the coffee table that Logan had lovingly restored the week before. It looked amazing, the light wood matching the rest of the furnishings. Could Tabitha have known, that day, that her simple act of encouraging me to do something naughty would lead to this? That she’d given me the key to my inner warrior woman that day, a key I’d misplaced for far too long?

  “We’re here to admire your handiwork, of course,” I replied, and with that I pushed down the straps of the top I was wearing, letting them fall off my arms. I hadn’t bothered wearing a bra underneath, figuring it was only going to get in the way this evening. I felt the atmosphere in the room change when the three of them figured what was about to happen, and I smiled to myself and closed my eyes. I loved having the three of them stare at me, knowing that in a minute, I’d have more than just their gazes all over my body.

  “More?” I asked without turning around. I had imagined this so many times since the first time the four of us had fucked together. That night, I’d been so distracted by the shock of what had happened, I couldn’t manifest any more of my fantasies. This time, however, I was prepared. And this time, I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to get my hands all over every single one of them.

  “More,” Taylor murmured. He moved toward me and covered my hands with his. I felt a sense of rightness—Taylor had been my first among these men, and it seemed right he was the first now, as we entered into this new realm.

  I let him take control, focused on the feeling of his fingers as he undressed me. He pulled my shirt off first, lifting my arms above my head and running his fingers over my waist as he did so. Tossing it aside, he reached up to cover my breasts with his hands. He hooked his chin over my shoulder and let out a soft groan. Firmly, he continued stripping me down, for the benefit of everyone else in the room, too.

  Then, Taylor got to his knees behind me and undid my pants from behind, slowly easing them down over my hips and off my body, leaving me in only my panties. The angle he was at behind me remi
nded me of when Logan had eaten my ass out just a few months before. I grinned at the memory. And then, tantalizingly, Taylor hooked his fingers around my panties and pulled them down, leaving me completely naked in my living room and at the mercy of these three men who I’d come to love more than anything in the world.

  Love.

  The breath whooshed out of my lungs. That was the first time I’d really allowed myself to think that word about them. But, here with the three of them, after hearing what they’d offered, what they wanted, my heart beating double-time in my chest, I knew that it was the truth. I loved them, each and every one of them, and there was nothing I could do to render than untrue.

  But before I could linger on the thought any more, Taylor got back to his feet and turned me around so I was facing Logan and Dominic head on. I bit my lip and fluttered my lashes in a coy fashion, as though this had just all happened by accident to little ol’ innocent me.

  “You like?” Taylor asked, kissing lightly across my shoulder and my neck as his hand strayed down over my ass.

  “I like,” Logan growled. “Trade me places.”

  Taylor bit my neck, gentle enough not to hurt but hard enough to make me gasp, then stepped aside to allow Logan to come behind me. As Taylor stepped back, Logan’s fingers spread my asshole. He probed me gently, making me groan with pleasure.

  “Don’t move,” Dominic murmured, moving to me. I looked up at Taylor as he sank down into the chair opposite me to watch this unfold. He always liked to watch. I remember the way he had looked down at me in the shower, when I had been sucking his cock, the look on his face as I’d made him come with my mouth, and felt a jolt of pleasure at the memory.

  Dominic sank to his knees in front of me. I looked down at him, running my fingers through his hair as he planted a kiss on each of my thighs, as though that was the secret code that opened my legs. Oh, but it was. He pushed my knees apart slowly, kissing along my thin strip of pubic hair and slowly bringing his mouth to my pussy. He wasn’t fucking around, wasn’t waiting, and I was glad for it. Logan still gently played with my ass, getting me warmed up for what I knew he’d wanted all along, making me wet and ready for more.