Marked

by Kit Rocha

  She tipped her chin. "Customer rush for lunch. I'll see you in a few hours."

  He blew her a kiss and she smiled before turning to her customers and getting back to work.

  He and Charlie had spoken that morning and he knew Charlie and Summer had come to the point Hatch so desperately wanted to achieve with her.

  Hatch knew in his gut that she understood she meant everything to him and Charlie both, but all this waiting for her to say so had been hard, but worth it. He'd had to really do the work to face the whys of his own behavior and how he'd make it up to her. Not just with sex or a bouquet of flowers, but coming back to her.

  Every day.

  Still, he was anxious. He knew her. She needed to be pushed that last little bit. Had to make a leap, like she did into every pool of water they came across.

  He had a list for dinner and went off to get all the items and to get cleaned up before Charlie got back and Summer got off work.

  Summer pretty much skipped home with a huge grin on her face. There were flowers in a pretty pitcher on her windowsill. Hatch wasn't around, but there was food in her fridge when she slid some of the things she'd brought home in to keep cold. Some fresh cheese and a crock of pear cider.

  After she put the bread away, she grabbed her favorite sundress from her armoire along with a towel and her toiletries and headed to take a shower. She could have done it at her place, but the water was warmer and had better pressure at the community showers.

  It had been a particularly hot day so she washed off the dust and sweat and flour that seemed to collect in her pores on days like that one. She used the soap she'd just bartered for the week earlier, and the body cream that went with it.

  Her hair would dry naturally, but she did put some almond oil on her fingertips and combed it through because it wasn't only hot, but humid and her mass of curls was even more unruly than usual.

  "Someone has a date."

  Summer looked up as Dulce came out from the soaking baths into the dressing area where she'd been putting on some makeup.

  "I've got two handsome men making me dinner."

  "How's Hatch's arm?"

  "He said he went to the clinic and they checked his stitches and everything looked good. Healing well and all that."

  She finished lining her eyes and put on the earrings Charlie had given her a few weeks before.

  "You look pretty."

  She grinned at her sister. "Thanks. I'll walk with you if you're on your way home just now."

  "I'm actually heading to my shop. There's a new doctor in town. I guess there's some sort of instrument he needs that won't work. I said I'd take a look at it."

  Summer kissed her sister's cheek. "Okay. I'll see you later then."

  Charlie was there when she came in, sitting out on her back deck, looking over the lake and the mountains in the distance.

  "Hey, you."

  He held a hand out and she took it, letting him tug her into his lap.

  "You look lovely. And you smell really good." He nuzzled her neck.

  She hummed, pleased, and ran her fingers through his hair, which was still wet.

  "Where's Hatch?" she managed to ask after he paused kissing her for a few moments.

  The sun had begun to set, which meant they'd been out there for an hour or so.

  "He said he had to stop off at the packing offices. I don't want to spoil the surprise."

  "Hm." She stood. "I've got pear cider in the cold case. Would you like a glass?"

  "That sounds perfect."

  He followed her inside and they moved around the kitchen easily. She filled glasses and they sipped.

  "I'm really hungry."

  "Me too."

  "Okay, I've got bread and cheese and preserves. Let's have a snack while we wait for Hatch."

  She sliced up the bread and they toasted it before adding the goat's milk cheese and preserves.

  But an hour after that and Hatch still hadn't arrived.

  "Maybe he hurt himself?"

  Charlie shook his head. "Nah. But I'm going to our caravan to see if he's left a note or something."

  "I'll come with you."

  They walked over, fingers tangled as they passed through the village. Music wisped through the air from the Commons and the smell of savory and sweet made her mouth water.

  Lovers sat and lay entwined on porches and the grassy bits in and around the caravans.

  They came around the last corner and she nearly stumbled because Charlie had stopped while she'd been looking up at the stars.

  He spun her artfully and she laughed. "Jeez, I nearly fell."

  "Sorry. I just wanted to kiss you."

  She kissed him and they needed to clear off the path to one side as a group came by with rolling carts and bicycles. That's when she turned and saw Hatch out in front of their caravan with Lenore.

  "Really?" She turned to Charlie.

  "He got a permanent position down at the processing center. He's going to start next week. I'm sure that's what this is about."

  The thing was, she'd have totally assumed that until he panicked. "Yeah, so why did you try to kiss my attention away?"

  "I didn't want to upset you."

  Hatch must have heard her voice because he turned to them. He spoke to Lenore and she hugged him and walked one way while Hatch strolled their way.

  He'd gotten all shirty that she'd had lunch with Jemmy and here he was hugging this woman who'd totally been coming on to him and he'd been hours late for a date.

  "You're late."

  "I know. I'm sorry. There was paperwork and then Lenore and my other boss Bobby bought me an ale. Time got away from me."

  "Huh. Okay then. I'm off home. You two have a nice night." She turned, so mad that he'd built her excitement up about that night and how he'd been so casual about his being late. And that damned kiss Charlie had given her only made it worse.

  She turned and started walking down the path but they were both pretty fast and they caught up to her within a few steps.

  "You can't honestly believe anything actually happened between me and anyone else."

  She rolled her eyes but kept walking.

  "Why are you mad? If you think I cheated on you, we need to have it out because I'm insulted."

  "If I thought you cheated on me, Hatch Mowbry, I'd have kicked you in the balls. Insulted? Oh fuck you sideways."

  "Oookay then. Do share what's gotten you all murderous."

  "You're over two and a half hours late for a dinner with me and you're talking to me with that tone? You're a jerk."

  He linked his arm with hers.

  "I'm totally a jerk. But I apologized already for being late."

  "Yeah, as you're shooting the breeze with your friends while Charlie and I wait around for you. Sorry to cut into your drinking schedule."

  "I just took a job, a permanent job so Charlie and I could be here with you. With. You. Am I supposed to tell my boss to fuck off?"

  "You're both really making me mad right now. How about I tell you to fuck off instead? I'm going to go home and eat because I'm starving. You two can come over tomorrow when I'm feeling less like I want to stab you with a fork."

  Charlie threw his hands up. "Me? He's the one who's late. Why do you want to stab me?"

  She faced Charlie, her gaze narrowed. "You tried to hide it from me and then say it wasn't a big deal. If you hadn't thought it was a big deal why hide it?"

  Hatch sighed. "Because we don't want to scare you away. Yes, I was a jerk for being late and he was a jerk for trying to hide me standing in public doing absolutely nothing with my boss. But--"

  "But? You're going to say but after that? Are you kidding me?"

  "You know it only makes me want to fuck the fight out of you when you get this way, right?"

  Her brows flew up and then she got very still and Hatch wanted to take her down to that path and lick her until she came a few times.

  "But," he continued, "we're trying really hard to do this
your way. Trying really hard to not spook you and make you understand in that gorgeous head of yours that we aren't going anywhere."

  "And yet, here I stand with you being two hours late and so rude you can barely be bothered to offer a snotty apology for it."

  He sighed. "And this has gone on entirely too long. Run your ass back home, Summer. I'm coming for you."

  He caught her intake of breath, but it wasn't fear. No. She was intrigued and turned on.

  If he and Charlie could do this right, they'd head for fucking and not into stabbing with forks. Summer was a spitfire and she was pissed. He understood it. Now he and Charlie had to work together to break down all the last of the wall she'd built around her heart.

  She flipped him off. "Watch your sac."

  He smiled as he looked at her slowly from toe to the top of her head. "I promised something special tonight. You're pretty and you smell good and I'm very late. I'll have to make it up to you."

  "Eat a bag of dicks, Hatch." She turned and stalked away.

  "Just one. And I'll definitely have it later, along with your pussy," he called out, brutally suppressing his need to laugh when she gave them double middle fingers and kept walking.

  "All right. Before we do this I'm asking you one last time if you're on board. She and I are going to do this. A lot."

  Charlie laughed. "She and I had pretty much this exact conversation the night you got hurt. I shouldn't have tried to hide you standing there with Lenore. I just...she was so happy tonight. Easy and pleased and I panicked. And I made it worse. You have to make this right because if you don't we've taken a big step back."

  "I know. I'll make it right. It's the not being where I'm supposed to be part. It's going to be something that pushes her buttons for a while to come and I own it. I should have gotten a message to you both about being late. I need to make it up to her as well. I poked at her to get a rise out of her. We fall into that rhythm."

  "All right. So yes, I know you two will have this back and forth. You're pushy and bossy and she's independent and fiery and together, you're like a chemical reaction. You push her, you know. Just to get a rise out of her."

  They continued to walk back toward her place.

  "When we were kids I did the same thing. She's just, oh man, do I love it when she's fired up. And that was before make-up sex. Now I want to tug on her pigtails while I fuck her. We are a chemical reaction. I'd forgotten how much of a pull there was between us. But it's more with you in the mix."

  Charlie slapped his ass. "Yes. It is. And yes, I'm on board. I love her. You love her. I love you both even when you push her and I have to get in between you to keep her from going for the forks."

  "All right." Hatch slung his arm around Charlie's shoulders. "This is the plan."

  Summer knew they were coming. By the time she'd gotten home she'd worked through most of her annoyance but not her expectation of some major grovel from Hatch. She took her hair out of the braid and stomped into her kitchen to make herself a sandwich.

  Gah. Hatch and Charlie both. Gah indeed! If she let them stay around, truly let them in and took that next step, this would happen a lot. Hatch was a butthead and Charlie was so good at smoothing things she forgot she was mad because he nuzzled her neck and translated Hatch's jerky behavior and made him sound reasonable. Still like a dick, but less so.

  She'd had two more glasses of pear cider and another sandwich and a scone with some jam on it by the time they came through the door.

  "We're here, Summer."

  She came out and looked them both up and down. "Good for you. I'd offer you a cookie but I ate them all."

  The set of Hatch's mouth made her nipples tingle and her pussy get slick.

  "I'm so going to enjoy this. And so will you. Eventually. No more walls, Summer. It's time for total honesty between the three of us."

  Fear trickled through her agitation and desire. "Hm. Well, there's no more pear cider either I'm afraid. But you two are welcome to whatever else you can find in the fridge. I'm thinking I'm going to take a swim. It's hot and I'm annoyed."

  "We'll eat afterward. And if you don't mind, we don't want what's in the fridge. We want what's in here." He tapped his chest over his heart. "No more running, Summer. No more space and time to accept what's been true all along."

  "You can't just sweep this under the rug with your dick, Hatch."

  He sucked in a breath and went very still. "That's a fair point."

  Both she and Charlie looked at him, clearly surprised.

  "What? You don't think I can't see how I do things? But, it's not sweeping things under the rug. I'm not using sex to hide from anything. It's part of how I communicate. It's not just fucking with you, Summer. It never has been.

  "I've fucked people after I walked away. Filled the empty spots with people I enjoyed but it wasn't more than climaxes. Then I found Charlie and we connected on a deeper level. With you it is never anything but everything I feel. I don't always have the right words, or I mess up what I want to say. But when I touch you, there's nothing but total truth between us. Let me show you how I feel. How you make me feel."

  She started to argue but found herself unable to be anything but totally moved by what he'd said. By the truth of it. She wanted to run and deny this because it was so big and so much and she was scared to even examine it. She didn't need this sort of intensity in her life.

  But she stood there, waiting.

  Hatch nodded as if she'd done something he approved of.

  "Charlie. Take a seat. Summer, on his lap."

  She looked up at Hatch from beneath her lashes. So much naked greed on his face it stole her breath. This Hatch was one she'd never been able to truly resist. Didn't want to. But this Hatch had the ability to break her. Again.

  Charlie sat on a nearby chair and she faced him, grateful to break the knowing gaze Hatch had held on her.

  Hatch spoke again. "No, Summer. Face me. Legs astride his thighs."

  Charlie's mouth twitched, sliding up on one side into a rakish grin. He too, was irresistible. Got her in ways that left her naked and exposed. "Go on, sunshine. Do it. You and I both know you want to. He does too."

  Swallowing hard, she stood and turned slowly.

  "Probably going to need to slide her dress up her thighs for this next part, Charlie."

  Summer took a shuddering breath as Charlie touched her calves, catching the soft material of her dress up. His hands were work-rough, warm, big and sure, a contrast to the well worn, soft as a breath cotton of her dress.

  The night air came through the open windows of her caravan, like a kiss against the skin he revealed as the hem inched higher and higher. There was something narcotic about this moment and she let it take her.

  Her head bent, her hair over her face, hiding from Hatch who saw her to her bones.

  He allowed it but she knew he wouldn't for long.

  "Now sit."

  She did, her thighs held open by Charlie's powerful, muscular legs.

  "Arms behind your back," Charlie whispered against her skin as she settled into his lap. She did, placing one forearm above the other at the small of her back, leaning into Charlie more fully.

  It was Hatch who spoke next. "You can let your hair fall over your eyes, Summer, but do you think I don't know?"

  Hatch stepped closer and her heart thundered in her chest, rendering her dizzy and breathless.

  "Do you think I don't know how wet your cunt is right now? Hm? Hot, wet, swollen. Begging to be touched? Licked. Do you think I don't know how hard you're working to trust me and how scared you are of it?"

  She swallowed hard. Charlie gathered her hair in one of his hands, sweetly, carefully and then he tugged hard, yanking her head back, exposing her face and her neck. He pulled her back to rest her head on his shoulder as he licked over the shell of her ear.

  She rolled her hips, grinding her pussy against Charlie's cock. He groaned and bit her neck. "Naughty."

  Summer wanted to keep her eyes cl
osed but she couldn't. She opened slowly to find Hatch standing closer than he had been. His cock strained at the front of his work trousers. He wore an undershirt, which she'd always found charming and rather old fashioned. But now it only made her hotter. The curls and swirls of his ink showed at his neck and shoulders. His chest hair peeked at the top, where the material dipped.

  "Do you think you're alone? Hm? I'm scared too. Scared I'm not good enough for you. Scared I'll disappoint you. I had to face myself with utter honesty when you came back into my life. I have to work to be a better man to be worthy not just of you, but of you and Charlie both. Your trust means I'm a better man than I was when I drove away from Portland four years ago."

  Could she look at herself with the same kind of honesty he struggled with that very moment? Could she afford that risk?

  "What do you see?" he asked.

  "W-what?"

  He knelt but did not touch her. Her nipples were so hard that each breath she took brought a delicious ache as they brushed against the bodice of her dress. He was right. She was wet and swollen. Her hips churned, seeking something, anything.

  "When you look at me, what do you see?"

  "I see you."

  "Unbutton that dress to free her tits," Hatch spoke to Charlie. One handed, keeping her hair in his other fist, Charlie obliged.

  The air on her breasts only made it worse. Only made the wanting slice into her deeper. Revealed far more than her skin or her desire. How he made her feel and respond was impossible to hide.

  "You know what I'm asking, Summer. When I look at you right now I see flushed skin. I see your big, dark pupils. Your lips are swollen, wet from the way you keep swiping your tongue over them. Your tits make my cock so fucking hard I can't stand it. You close your eyes when I say something that touches you. I see fear there, but love too. You're so brave and beautiful." This was a seduction not just on a physical, surface level, but to her bones.

  She dragged a breath into her lungs but it was filled with him. With Charlie. Hatch brushed a palm over his erection and she arched to get closer without having planned it.

  Charlie chuckled in her ear, knowing.

  "Your nipples are dark and hard. I know if I drew my tongue over one right now your clit would feel it too. I can see the way you're gasping for breath, the way you keep straining to get closer but then your hair gets pulled tighter. You like that. Your pupils get darker, larger. You don't know if you want to like it, but you do. Charlie has to be so fucking hard, his cock against the sweetness of your ass. You want it, don't you? Charlie's cock?"