"Talk away," Hugh replied. He perched his luscious ass on the edge of the reception desk and invited her to begin with a soft smile.
"I think we . . . . Well, I think," she hesitated and silently prayed for help. Her next few words came out in a rush as she began to panic. "I think we need to stop sleeping together."
She swallowed in relief that she'd actually managed to get the words out. But that relief soon faded. She watched as Byron's entire body became tense and his muscles began to grow impossibly bigger, harder even. At first, Nicole thought it was an optical illusion, but he definitely looked fiercer, hungry like the wolf that was ready to pounce, she thought whimsically.
Hugh's eyes had narrowed, but, although he appeared to be mightily pissed off, there had been no other bodily reaction. His voice managed to convey his reaction perfectly, though. Never had she heard such a wealth of anger and hurt in one sentence. It made her wince guiltily, but there was no other option open to her, was there?
"We do more than sleep together, Nicole."
The simplicity of his words carried an entire gamut of emotions with them, and they made her shudder. It was a barbed statement, and it managed to hit her where she was already hurting.
"I know we do, Hugh," she answered softly, ducking her head to avoid his ire and reproach-filled eyes.
"Then why do you want this to end?"
She gulped and said hoarsely, "Because it's run its natural course."
"Oh, has it? I wasn't aware that it had. Were you aware of that, Byron?"
"No, Hugh. I didn't realize that either," Byron replied tight-lipped, his words clipped.
His voice was rough, like gravel, and she knew that he was hurting. She wanted nothing more than to walk over to him and hug him, to hold him to her and stroke his hair, to touch him. She wanted anything but to watch their anger flourish and blossom as they spoke with her.
"Did you think we would be easy to dismiss?" Hugh asked almost conversationally.
"No. I don't particularly want to dismiss you. It's not like that," she said hurriedly. Spinning around so that her back was to them, she hunched her shoulders and said, "I . . . I . . . . This can't go on any longer, Hugh. Surely both you and Byron understand that?"
"Why can't this go on any longer, Nicole? I don't think I understand. Why don't you explain it to me?"
She spun around once more. Anger gave her courage to speak. "Dammit, what do you want me to say? I'm older than both of you! Threesomes just don't happen to women like me! For God's sake, where can this go?"
"Does it have to go anywhere?" Hugh asked softly.
Before she could answer, Byron plunged ahead. "This is about Durst, isn't it? This is about you wanting to get back with him . . . ."
"When hasn't it been about that?" she answered tiredly. Unfortunately, the comment just seemed to rile them both even more.
"Dammit, Nicole! He's a bastard! You know for a fact that you can't trust him. Hell, he has a kid with that new girlfriend of his! What does he have to do to you for you to realize that he's no damn good?" Byron asked angrily.
"You don't understand. It's not just about me!"
"The last time I checked, there are two people in a marriage," Hugh pointed out with perfect logic.
"Of course there are. But there's more to the situation than you realize."
"Tell us, maybe we can help. Anything to stop you going back to that bastard."
She sighed wearily then said somewhat wistfully, "He is a bastard, isn't he?"
Byron frowned, then hissed, "If you know that, then why the fuck are you going back to him?"
"Dammit, Byron! I don't fucking want to go back to him! For the last few years, he's been paying for my brothers to go to college and he helps my mama because she can't make it on the pittance she gets from my father's pension!"
"So, this is all about money, is it?" Byron asked on a sneer.
"Yes," she whispered, hating herself for saying the word. Unable to help herself, her lower lip wobbled, but she resolutely took control of herself and stopped it in seconds. "It's about money I don't have and can't even imagine how to get. I make enough money to support myself. But my mother, she just . . . . She can't. And she keeps on and on, telling me, 'You have to get back with Joe. Joe keeps us afloat. Your marriage can't be over!' And what the hell can I do? I don't want him! Oh God, you can't understand. You'll never understand."
She tucked her hands over her elbows and huddled in on herself. When she felt someone come up close behind her, it was difficult to contain the shudder that longed to quake through her body. God, they were always so warm, so hot. Until moments like these, when she was so damned cold, it was easy to forget how high their natural body temperature was.
A pair of hands came up to cup her shoulders, and immediately she knew it was Hugh.
"Explain it to us then. We want to understand."
"What's the point in doing that? You'll just think I'm a mercenary bitch, whatever I say or do! And I'm not! I don't want Joe's money. I want to be rid of him!"
She heard rather than saw the scowl of confusion on Byron's face. "Then leave him, Nicole. It really is as easy as that. Honestly, babe," he said.
"It isn't, Byron. Nothing is ever that simple. It's not just my mother. My entire family relies on Joe's support. Without it, they'll flounder. I-I can't let that happen. If I made enough to support her as well as myself, then I'd run from Joe like a bat out of hell. But I can't. If there's any possibility that we can get back together, I have to grab it with both hands! My little brothers are in college now. One of them is studying to be a doctor and the other wants to be an engineer. They're both at the early stages of their degree! Without Joe's help, they'll never be able to afford to continue. College costs too damned much. I can't let them down. I can't let my family down, surely you can understand that?" she asked, unconsciously pleading with them. Her words trembled and quaked as she spoke passionately about why she and Joe had to get back together. No matter her own needs, failure was not an option.
"Nicole," Hugh murmured softly. "Okay, I understand now, honey. But surely we can help, baby." His hands stroked up and down her trembling arms. "We're not as big as Joe Durst, but we can help. Sweetheart, neither Byron nor I want this to end. We're not going to let this end, so you're just going to have to come to terms with that."
She pulled away from his embrace, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. "Dammit, Hugh, you have to let it end! I can't expect you to help me. It wouldn't be right. I don't want to take your money. I don't want to take Joe's. This whole damned situation is impossible."
"He's up to something, Nicole. You know that, right?" Hugh warned.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know what I mean," he said, annoyed with himself and the situation. He dragged his fingers roughly through his hair and continued, "It's something to do with the house."
"What the hell are you saying?"
"It's just something he said that both Byron and I recently picked up on, something awfully conniving."
"Either tell me what you're going on about or I'm leaving!"
"Dammit, Nicole! We think he wants to burn the house down and claim on the insurance."
"How on Earth can you know that? Why the hell would he spend so much money on the place if he was just going to set it on fire?" she asked, her voice hoarse with confusion.
"We can't know that for sure, and we may be wrong, but, either way, don't think that you're safe from him. He's a clever, cunning bastard."
"Joe would never hurt me!" she said roughly, but then paused when she remembered how he'd gotten when he'd gotten drunk. "Well, he'd never do anything like that. I know you think he's a prick, and yeah, he can be at times. But he's not like that!"
"Isn't he?"
"Hugh! Stop this. Joe's a business man! What you're talking about is insurance fraud! It's illegal. He wouldn't do something like that!"
"How well do you know Joe, Nicole? Sure you were married to h
im for the last fifteen years, but you don't really know him. Do you?"
"Of course, I do!"
"Did you know he was going to leave you after cheating on you and getting his girlfriend pregnant? No, you didn't know that."
"This is stupid. There's no proof. It's just conjecture."
"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. If nothing happens, then we're wrong and gladly so. But we're just telling you to be careful. He's been acting mighty weird these last few weeks. You have to agree with that, right?"
Frowning at them both, she tried to ignore what they'd just been telling her. But it was easier said than done. How well did she really know Joe? The truth was, not very well at all, and she had no real desire to know him either. How did she know he wasn't corrupt enough to behave like that? The answer was, she didn't! "Dammit, why did you have to tell me this?"
"Because we want you to be safe!"
"Are you sure it's not just because you want your own way? You don't want me to try and get him back. Sullying his name and making slurs against him could just be your way of trying to stop me."
"If you think we're like that, then you're wrong, and you should just walk out that damned door right now!" Hugh lifted his arm and pointed to the door.
Her shoulders slumped because she knew they wouldn't have told her any of this unless they believed it to be the truth. At the same time, they had no proof of what Joe was planning to do with the house. Hell, even she had no clue as to what he wanted to do with it. But it would certainly explain the niggling worrisome sensations that had been assailing her recently where Joe was concerned. She herself had thought something was weird about Joe's recent behavior. Talk about planting a seed of doubt! She scowled. "This could all just be some sorry tale, you know."
Hugh nodded. "Yeah, it could be. But, you have to admit it yourself, he's been acting weird lately, hasn't he? He's become obsessed with the final date of completion on the renovations. Then he comes around and starts abusing you, when he left you and he's with another woman. I mean, what the hell is that about? Durst doesn't strike me as the sort to get jealous."
"No," she murmured softly. Therein lay the reason her plan had been doomed from the start. Hugh, a man who had only dealt with her husband through business and had known him for less than a year, had managed to ascertain that her husband wasn't the overly jealous type, especially over a woman he had left. If he had any jealous feelings at all they would now be raining down upon his new girlfriend's head.
"I don't know what he's doing or if he's doing anything at all. But I don't trust him. I certainly don't trust him with your safety, and if you try and get him back and perhaps succeed . . . . I wouldn't like to think of what he's capable of, especially after you told us he'd beaten you up before."
"Yeah, but that was years ago and he was drunk at the time."
"Baby, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Have you never heard of that saying before?"
"Of course I have." She tried not to shudder with need as Hugh walked over to her and stood directly behind her, his searing body heat along the full length of her back.
"Well then, you should know that he's not trustworthy."
"God, I know that, but what other option do I have, Hugh? Byron?"
She knew her words annoyed them both, but they didn't react with anger. Instead, Hugh's face lowered to her shoulder and he began to press kisses along the line of her collarbone. She tried to shrug them off, but to no avail. Unable to help herself, her face pressed against his own, and she shuddered when he gave her a long, slow kiss that melted her from the inside out. Her own body temperature seemed to skyrocket as Byron walked towards her and pressed himself against her. His hard body, the muscles that had earlier seemed to treble in size, were so close to her. Perhaps less than an inch of air separated them.
His cock was erect. Engorged, it stood proudly in between them. Her hand, which had decided to stop taking orders from her brain, slid down and fingered the log in his jeans with trembling awe.
Her face was tilted awkwardly, but she didn't care. Hugh's mouth had overtaken hers, and she adored his domination. She didn't want to be in charge. She wanted them to rule her.
His tongue was engaged with hers, but there was no fight. With that single point of intimate contact between them, he built sensation in her body higher and higher up until she thought she could climax from his kiss alone, either that or die from shortness of breath.
She gulped in air when his mouth detached itself from hers and he began to nibble at the line of her neck. Byron joined in, and so, she stood there, in the middle of their office while the two of them licked and bit at her neck.
Whimpers of delight began to escape her mouth. They were impossible to contain. Happiness and feelings of bliss were pounding their way through her system and her head felt light from the intensity of their power.
Her legs trembled, her knees quaked, and she was fully cognizant of the fact that they were keeping her upright, that she wasn't supporting herself. But did she care? No, she didn't give a damn.
She almost jumped when she heard small growls erupt from the men nibbling at her throat. But the sound resonated throughout her body in a wholly pleasant way. In a bizarre response to such an odd sound, her pussy began to long for one of their cocks to fill it. She wanted to be filled, wanted them to fuck her together, to make her forget all of her worries.
The hunger in those growls awakened a similar response in her. She was totally unprepared for their next move, however, and it was impossible to prevent the scream of pain that erupted from her as they bit down hard at the curve of her throat that led to the line of shoulders.
She actually felt their teeth break into her skin, but, at that exact moment, rather than feeling repulsed, rather than wondering what the hell was happening, rather than asking if they were god damned vampires, she moaned lustfully.
Their teeth remained clamped down against her, and, after a few seconds, she came, felt the juices from her pussy slide down and coat her inner thighs.
Her eyes were blind to everything. Had she not been with Byron and Hugh, she knew she would have been terrified. But, as the orgasm pounded through her system, she merely relaxed into them and let them take care of her.
Her first sign of awakening was the small trembles that seemed to shimmer over her flesh. The small hairs that coated her body stood on edge and when their tongues laved over the wounds they'd created, a keen cry burst free from her. Pleasure beyond her wildest dreams assailed her.
Collapsing into Byron's arms, she began to cry as sensations rocketed her into another plane of existence, one that she'd never before experienced. Lights flashed behind her eyes. Like fireworks, they exploded, taking her higher and higher until she couldn't respond anymore, until responding felt like dying and her body gave up.
Seconds, minutes, hours, days later, she wasn't sure which, her eyes opened blearily. She blinked at the brightness of the desk light above her. It made her realize that she must be lying on a desk.
Byron loomed over her, concern etched in every feature of his face.
She could see the worry and anxiety in his eyes, and she smiled in response, trying to reassure him that she was fine. "What happened?" she mumbled a little dumbly.
He shrugged uncomfortably, before replying, "You climaxed."
His tone, his body language, everything about him told her that something about that statement wasn't correct. Whatever the hell it was, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was that he wasn't telling her the full truth. Either way, she knew that eventually they'd bare all to her.
She cleared her throat. "Well, that was some orgasm."
He laughed sheepishly. "Yeah. Well, at least we're good for something, hey?"
Frowning, Nicole looked up at him. "Don't ever say that Byron. You're wonderful. Both of you are. And you're good for a whole hell of a lot more."
The earnestness of her tone made him blink, but a grimace soon rode the curve of his firm lips. "Not enough to make yo
u want to stay with us though, huh?"
"Oh, Byron, it's not like that. Surely you can understand?"
He exhaled, the sound a hiss between his teeth. "I can understand. That doesn't make it any better, though."
In a move that shocked them both. She spread her legs and quickly imprisoned him in between them. With her strong thighs, she dragged him forward so that he fell on top of her with a thud. She coughed, a little winded from the weight of his body, but she clung to him and held him tight, opening her arms to complete the embrace fully.
She said nothing for a moment, just clung to him and him to her. It was difficult to even think of breaking it off with them when they were like this.
Even though he hadn't said the words and she hadn't said them either, at that moment, she realized that he loved her. Maybe he didn't know that he did, but she thought that he did, and her heart broke at the possibility of never being like this with him again.
"Byron?"
"Yeah?"
She hesitated, wanting and needing to tell him how she felt about him, but she chickened out, unable to tell him the truth. "Will you take me home?"
"Of course."
"Will you both come with me?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"I thought you wanted to break this off …?"
"I don't know what I want, Byron. I'm so confused. Please, just give me some time."
He grunted. "It kills me to give you that. In fact, Hugh will kill me when he knows I agreed! But, yeah, we'll give you some time."
"Thank you," she whispered. "Where is Hugh?"
"He's in the reception area. A client came in, and I had to carry you in here."
"Oh God!" she murmured, completely mortified. Pressing her hot face into Byron's shirt front, she clung to him. "What the hell did you say to him?" she whispered.
"I told him that you were pregnant and had fainted."
"You didn't!" she said in shock.
"I did. Why not? Hey, it could be the truth. We never used any protection with you." He smiled faintly at her look of shock.
"God, you don't, do you?"
"Nope."
He sounded too damn smug for her liking! She hit him on the shoulder. "I can't believe I forgot something as important as protection," she hissed.
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