by Liz Meldon
“I…” Skye shook her head. He was in love with her. Cole loved her. Skye hadn’t just imagined those fleeting moments subtly woven into the strands of their friendship. “You…”
“I couldn’t tell you,” he admitted, his hands now gripping the fabric of the grey track pants he’d been wearing since last night. “I loved what we had. You made the noise stop, if you get my meaning. You were the only person in my life who calmed me down, made me feel like me, and I couldn’t risk it.”
“But Cole—”
“I worked too much,” he told her, shaking his head, his smile surprisingly sad. “We both knew it. I worked constantly, and what little time I could get with you, I wasn’t about to complicate. I couldn’t give you the time and attention you deserved back then. It wasn’t fair to you, and I’d never forgive myself if I took us out of our comfortable relationship, complicated things, then fucked it all up because I couldn’t be there for you. It was selfish of me, and I knew that, so I gave you what I could. Everything I could, even though I knew it wasn’t enough.”
Overwhelmed and not trusting herself to speak, Skye moved to the couch, back to her old spot between them, and grabbed Cole’s hand with both of hers. Her vision blurred as tears surfaced—happy tears, for once.
“And then you met Finn,” Cole said softly, and her heart dropped into her stomach. “And he met you. I just knew… I mean, I get it. He’s charming as hell. I don’t blame you for falling for him.” His eyes, blue like the waters after a storm, shifted to Finn for a moment. “I don’t blame either of you. My two favourite people would fall for each other—”
“What he’s trying to say,” Finn interjected, his expression hedging on more amused than annoyed, “less eloquently than we practiced, is that neither of us are upset about our current situation. Both of us care for you very deeply. Cole’s said it himself: he loves you. And I think I’ve been falling in love with you ever since I saw you standing there, covered in wine and cursing the high heavens.”
Skye’s face must have looked like a ripe cherry tomato. She pulled her hands back and pressed them to her cheeks, suddenly feeling so hot she couldn’t stand the fact that she was wearing clothes.
“All we want is for you to be happy,” Finn told her, his head cocked to the side, lips lifted in that trademark smirk that made her heart skip a beat. “We want to make you happy. Together.”
Skye wanted to take the time to properly mull over every word in this conversation, but she couldn’t get her brain to work. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t process. All she could do was feel. And how she felt—it was oddly wonderful, yet she couldn’t trust that feeling. Not yet. Not until her logic caught up with her emotions.
“I don’t understand,” she stammered, looking between them.
“I’ve agreed to pull back considerably from the company,” Cole said, his voice catching as he did. “I’ve hired a load of new people to take over some of my responsibilities, but I’ll still be working. I’ll be traveling frequently, but Finn has decided to make Coral Bay his home base. If you’ll have us, together, I think we can have something fantastic here.”
“You don’t have to make a decision,” Finn insisted as the pieces started to finally fall into place in her mind. “You don’t have to choose between us. Neither of us want that for you.”
“So,” Skye said slowly, her eyes narrowing, “I’d be in a relationship with both of you?” When they each nodded, she cleared her throat. “Okay. And you two would be what, exactly, to each other?”
Cole flushed at the question, and Finn burst out laughing.
“Well, we’re not dating each other, if that’s what you’re asking,” Finn said, his eyes positively twinkling when they met hers. “We thought of it as you being with each of us individually, but the three of us will have a mutual relationship built on, I don’t know, trust, communication, and understanding. All that feel-good stuff. No pettiness between Cole and I, no jealousy.”
Skye opened and closed her mouth for a moment, then sat back and crossed her arms. Never in her life had she considered dating two men before, much less two men who were somehow a part of, yet distinct, inside one relationship bubble. Her gut reaction was to call it taboo and kick them both out of the apartment, but her heart preached patience. After all, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop thinking about either of them. That had to be love. They had strengths and weaknesses that complemented one another; it wasn’t that they each added up to form one perfect man, but that she could see herself being happy with both—and making them both happy in return.
“Finn and I have put a lot of thought and discussion into the dynamics of the relationship,” Cole told her after the silence dragged on for longer than was comfortable. “Of course, we would want your input.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really? I get a say? How considerate of you two.”
“Naturally,” Finn said, smirking from the other end of the couch. “If Cole and I are going to be your harem, your input is essential.”
Both men chuckled as her cheeks prickled with heat, and Skye pressed her palms back to her face, a rush of emotions making it difficult to think straight. Embarrassment. Flattery. Confusion. Affection. Desire. She wasn’t sure how the conversation made her feel, but she didn’t want to run—that had to be a good thing.
The idea of Cole cutting back at work so they could be together was touching, but she didn’t want him to give up his passions for the sake of the relationship. And the fact that Finn was so ready to dive into such a unique situation just to be with her made her heart skip a beat; she just couldn’t fathom why such an eligible guy would throw away the dating scene just for her.
But here they were, dead serious despite their brief bout of the giggles, asking her to give love a chance with both of them.
“So, okay.” She took a deep breath, filling her lungs and calming her giddy energy as she exhaled slowly. “I think I want to give it a try.” Skye ignored the way they grinned at her like she was the Christmas present they’d been waiting their whole lives to unwrap. “It will take some time.”
“Of course,” Cole remarked.
“Trial and error,” Finn added with a nod. Skye licked her lips, still overwhelmed but slowly easing herself into the moment.
“I mean, all the feelings are out on the table,” she said, more to herself than to them, “and you’re telling me I essentially get to have the cake I love and eat it too?”
Cole shifted closer, stretching his arm out along the back of the couch, their thighs bumping against each other. “That’s one way to put it, I suppose.”
“Though I object to being referred to as a baked good,” Finn said as Skye smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. He picked some cat hair off his stark-white dress shirt. “You couldn’t have found a proverb involving chocolate? For fuck’s sake, Skye. I expected better from you.”
She gave him a good-natured smack on his muscular thigh, then looked to Cole. A part of her still couldn’t believe that he would be okay with all this, especially after everything they had been through together. In love for years. Best friends. And he had no qualms sharing her?
Their eyes met, yet she saw nothing but raw openness, honesty, and brazen affection staring back at her. No jaw clench. No nail-clacking. No fists. His smile melted her heart, and, unable to stop herself, she leaned in for a kiss. Gentle innocence tinged with heat. Skye wanted to collapse into that kiss and never resurface. His fingers threaded through her hair after he tugged it out of its messy bun, but just as they started to give in to each other, falling into an easy rhythm, Skye pulled away, a hand on his chest. Beneath her palm, Cole’s heart hammered, loud and true, and for the first time, she felt with every ounce of her being that it beat for her.
Skye scrambled to catch her breath, flustered, and turned now to Finn, expecting the worst. However, rather than finding even a flicker of jealousy in those dark eyes, she saw a burning desire that would have knocked her on her ass if they were standing.
He started to close the distance, holding her gaze as he prowled across the couch, the electricity between them making the hairs on her arms stand up. However, just as Finn’s supple lips threatened to claim hers, one of those awful bark-laughs slipped out before she could stop it, and Skye buried her face in her hands, mortified.
“I’m so sorry,” she moaned. “I don’t know how to do this with both of you here…”
“It takes some practice,” she heard Cole murmur, his hand on her knee and his words dripping with a husky authority that she had only heard twice from him before—and both times he’d been buried between her thighs. She peeked up, her embarrassment ebbing, and found Finn’s smoldering gaze once more. He cupped her cheek, breath hot against her skin, and grinned.
“Not to worry,” he purred. “We’ll be happy to show you the ropes.”
“As many times as you need.” Cole’s hand wandered along her leg, then slipped between her thighs. “Thoroughly.”
“After all,” Finn’s grin turned positively scandalous as Skye gasped, startled by Cole cupping her suddenly aching sex, “practice certainly makes perfect.”
His mouth captured hers with a surprising degree of tenderness, and Skye’s eyelashes fluttered somewhat as she closed her eyes, falling headfirst into the kiss. Gone was her shyness, her fear. Finn gave her courage, his tongue sweeping over hers as he deepened the kiss. Leaning back against Cole, his toned body supporting hers like she weighed nothing, Skye found comfort. One hand tentatively touched Finn’s forearm, her fingertips grazing his warm skin, while the other reached back and fisted in Cole’s shirt. A moan slipped from her lips, contained between her and Finn, when Cole started to massage her sex.
Her body wasn’t entirely sure how to react, all her sensors on overdrive as Finn’s mouth devoured hers, the tenderness slipping away bit by agonizing bit, replaced with a firestorm that made her toes curl. Meanwhile, a pleasurable tightness knotted in her core, streaks like lightning flashing across her body every time Cole’s fingers circled her swollen clit.
For the first time in a long time, she didn’t find the moment spoiled by aching thoughts, the kind that sprang up at the least opportune moments—their sole purpose to kill the mood. In fact, as her hand wrapped around Finn’s wrist and her hips bucked up against Cole’s hand, Skye found she had no thoughts—zero. Her mind was blank, trapped in a haze of pleasurable fog that she never wanted to lift. Skye just existed. No past. No future. All that mattered was the present, and she sank deeper into it when Cole pushed the soaked fabric of her little sleep shorts aside and slipped a finger into her with ease.
Skye cried out and tore her mouth from Finn’s, eyes clenched shut as Cole pumped in and out of her, massaging her inner walls just as ruthlessly as he’d worked her clit. Teeth raked along her jaw, and she tipped her head back as Finn nibbled and sucked his way down her exposed throat, his hands paving the path across her body for his mouth to follow.
She whimpered, feeling both hopelessly trapped between both men and wildly aroused at the very idea, and clutched at clothing, hers and theirs, desperate to truly feel each of them. Before she could make her demands known, Cole’s talented fingers slipped back up to tease her aching bud again, circling around it and gently swiping over it, her body twitching with each brush of his thumb.
Finn, meanwhile, had worked his way down to where he knelt on the floor, and Skye lifted her hips obligingly, cheeks hot, as he grabbed her shorts and tugged them off. Cole’s hand finally left her, questing under her shirt to grasp her breast, cupping and kneading it, his breath a soft, dangerous hiss in her ear. Her body spasmed again; the cool air washing over her dripping sex paired with the almost too-exquisite bite of Cole’s fingers plucking at her nipple, pearled to a stiff peak.
“Christ,” Finn groaned, and she dragged her gaze down to watch those onyx eyes blaze a searing-hot trail up her legs and to her center, “you’re such a stunning creature…”
“Perfect,” Cole agreed, catching Skye under her chin and dragging her back for a fiery kiss just as Finn licked a trail up her inner thigh. She whimpered against Cole’s mouth, suddenly a little unsure of where to put her hands—or what to even do with them. At the feel of Finn’s tongue sweeping over her slick folds, Skye threaded one hand through his hair, and the other lifted to graze Cole’s clean-shaven cheek.
Although half her mind refused to be distracted from the torturously slow fucking of Finn’s tongue, in and out of her, while he lazily circled her clit with his thumb, Skye couldn’t ignore the hardness pressing into her back for much longer. After Finn dragged her hips further over the edge of the couch, adjusting the angle just right so that Skye was squirming and moaning up against his mouth like a cat in heat, she managed to get just enough focus together to reach back and tug Cole’s track pants down. While their positioning worked better for Finn, his mouth absolutely ravenous as he plundered her, pushing her closer and closer to the brink of ecstasy, she found it difficult to lose herself in Cole’s kiss, the strain on her neck too much. As her hand delved into her former sugar daddy’s boxers, he cradled her neck with one hand, allowing her to relax against him, and shifted about for better access to her mouth.
An embarrassing squeak slipped out of Skye’s mouth when a pair of Finn’s fingers delved into her, picking up where Cole had left off along her inner walls while his mouth focused solely on her clit. Her hand tightened in his hair. Her toes curled. She fumbled with Cole’s cock, pumping up and down in uneven strokes as he groaned into her mouth. It was too much. Too much to focus on. Too much pleasure. Skye felt like she was about to both burst and fold in on herself, like a star, simultaneously dying and exploding into a thousand pieces of cosmic matter. She wanted to give just as much as she received, but with two men showering her with more affection than she’d ever known, it was downright impossible to keep up.
Determined, she slowed her hand, focusing on the velvety-smooth head of Cole’s cock, savoring the way he twitched beneath her, his mouth lifting from hers as he threw his head back.
“Fuck…”
Skye licked her lips; she loved the sound of vulgarity rolling off his tongue. However, before she could lose herself in it, before she could smear the glistening liquid down to the base of his shaft, Finn found the perfect spot with those two lovely fingers of his. She lurched forward slightly, and her legs would have flailed about if Finn hadn’t kept them thrown over his annoyingly clothed shoulders.
“W-wait,” she whimpered, suddenly too overwhelmed in the moment, too caught up. “Finn, I…”
Cole threaded his fingers through her hair and dragged her back into a kiss just as the levies burst. The floodgates broke, and a tidal wave of a climax washed over her with such force that she saw spots. Skye lost all control, spiraling out as pleasure pounded her body, leaving a trail of heat fluttering down from her cheeks to her navel. Slowly, both men eased away, Cole allowing her to gasp for air and Finn leaving her trembling and drenched in her own arousal, sitting back on his heels.
“Oh my god.” Skye pressed a hand to her forehead, flustered—and bouncing back for more faster than she might have expected. She sat up somewhat, still unsteady, and looked between them. “Okay, I feel like you guys have done this before.”
“You’ve only got a bit of catching up to do,” Cole told her, tracing her blush down her cheeks, to her neck, and then fingering the neckline of her T-shirt. Finn smirked, and when he stood, she caught his very prominent erection straining beneath his dress pants.
“Not to worry,” he said. “We’ll be sure to get you up to speed as soon as possible.”
“Arrogant dicks,” Skye muttered, laughing when the men—her men—exchanged quick looks.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Finn purred, leaning down and helping her to her feet. He slowly turned her so that she faced Cole on the couch, his hands planted squarely on her hips, lips brushing her ear as he said, “Do you want to stop?”
She swallowed hard, her heart skip
ping a beat and her sex clenching with need. “No.”
“Good.” He lifted her shirt up and over her head, then tossed it aside. “Just what we wanted to hear.”
With her lower lip caught between her teeth, she stood there, waiting, struggling to ignore the heat in Cole’s eyes as he drank in her naked body. Wordlessly, Finn guided her onto the couch, and Cole followed suit, shuffling back to give them more space. On her knees, she accepted a quick, deep, earthshattering kiss from Finn, feeling like putty in his hands, tasting herself on his tongue, before he had her facing Cole again. With a hand on her lower back, Finn eased her downward, and Skye set to work on freeing Cole from his briefs, his cock straining to get back to her. However, before she could lean down and take the silky-smooth head in her mouth, he caught her by the chin and dragged her into another kiss.
Skye moaned as Cole cupped each breast, every swipe of his thumb over her nipple sending a jolt straight to the crux of her thighs. Behind her, she heard Finn dealing with his belt and zipper, and she pulled away from Cole with a soft shudder at what was to come.
They all moved as if by instinct—a first in Skye’s sexual history, but she wasn’t about to complain. Even if Cole and Finn had done this before with another woman, she still didn’t mind. What mattered was that they were there with her now, and that they both cared deeply for her, their feelings mirroring hers with perfect harmony. No wonder this was so easy. With the love there, they couldn’t go wrong.
Well, metaphorically, anyway. There was probably still a learning curve for her to tackle when it came to handling two men, but for the time being, she went on instinct. She didn’t think. She just did.
Slowly, she trailed her tongue along Cole’s solid length, going from top to bottom and back up again to swirl around the tip. He groaned, hands clenching in and out of fists before he threaded one through her hair and rested the other behind his head. Behind her, Finn teased her entrance, first with his fingers, sliding forward to play with her clit just enough to make her squirm, then with the head of his shaft. She moaned as she took Cole in her mouth and arched her hips back, eager, her cheeks warming at the sound of Finn’s dark chuckle.
