by James Tate
James wrinkled his nose at me in response. "It's a barbecue, MK. Don't tell me you've never had a barbecue before."
My cheeks flushed as I searched my memory. But... nope. It hadn't really been Samuel Danvers style.
"Sorry I'm late!" a familiar voice called out from the side of the house, and a bubbly redhead came bounding toward us. "MK, your house is to die for! I'm totally spending weekends here."
I grinned hard as my new friend crashed into me with a tight, way-too-friendly hug. I'd gotten used to it, though.
"Seph! Please tell me you have permission to be here." I freaking loved the girl, but I also didn't want to take the fall for her teenage-rebellion bullshit.
She scoffed a laugh. "Of course, I do. This time. Anyway, not even big, bad Hades could argue my safety when I said I was spending the weekend with you and your harem." She shot me a wink then sighed. "I mean, I did have to accept a ride from Daddy Cass to get here, though."
I almost choked on my tongue. "You did not just call him that," I said in a strangled voice as the tattoo-covered, scowling biker came stalking across the grass carrying Seph's overnight bag.
She just shrugged like she didn't see the big deal. "Maybe he should stop acting like my dad then. Oh, Bree's here! Hey, girl!" She bounded over to my bestie like an overly energetic puppy. Seph was fast becoming one of my favorite people in the whole world.
"Kid," Cass greeted me with a grunt, nodding his head to my guys as well. "Sorry to crash the party. Little shit crashed her car into a ditch last weekend, and Hades wouldn't let her drive up alone."
My brows rose, and my lips curved in a mocking smile. "So you offered? That's awfully nice of you, Grumpy. You're not even a Timberwolf; surely someone else could have done the job."
He just glared at me. "Shut up." He shifted his scowl to Archer. "Where's the booze? I'm not suffering this sober."
Archer looked like he was biting back a laugh, but clapped Cass on the shoulder and walked with him back into the house.
Kody and Steele walked with me over to the long wooden jetty that protruded out into the lake, and the three of us sat on the end of it with our feet dangling in the water.
"This is amazing, you guys know that?"
Steele's arm was around my waist, and Kody's hand rested on my knee, both radiating pride for their surprise well done.
"Well, we kinda figured this was a birthday gift to all of us," Kody told me, "seeing as none of us celebrated properly this year."
"Best birthday ever," I said with a groan of emotion. "What's that out there?" I pointed farther out into the lake where there seemed to be a platform of some sort.
Steele kissed my shoulder and his lips curved in a smile. "Just a diving platform," he said, with an edge of mischief. "We'll show you later."
Excitement buzzed through me at his tone, and I nodded. "Alright, I'll play along. So far you guys are pretty much killing it with this surprise thing."
"Score." Kody reached out a hand to Steele, who slapped it with a high five. Fucking boys.
Leaning my head on Kody's shoulder, with Steele's strong arm around me, I could barely even handle how stupidly happy they'd made me. Everything we'd gone through almost seemed worth it to have such overwhelming happiness.
Archer joined us a few minutes later, lifting me into his lap as he squeezed his ass between his friends, then he kissed me until I was panting.
"Come on, Princess. Food's ready."
"I'm not hungry," I replied, licking my lips and darting my eyes between the three of them. "Not for food."
Kody let out a groan and scrubbed a hand over his face. Steele just threw his head back and laughed. Archer met my eyes with burning heat in his gaze.
"We've got guests, Kate. Play along, and we promise it'll be worth it."
I wanted to protest, but he was right. All our family was here, for us. It'd probably be bad form to sneak off to fuck while they were waiting to eat. And I badly didn't want Constance calling us out for bad manners.
"Fine," I grumbled, letting Steele help me out of Archer's lap and up to my feet. "But I'm holding you to that promise, D'Ath."
He smirked. "I'm counting on it, Wittenberg."
I snorted and rolled my eyes. Part of my legal proceedings had been to drop the Danvers name, and it'd felt too weird to take D'Ath without Jones or Steele. So I'd taken my mother's maiden name.
I was now Madison Kate Wittenberg, and it felt right.
43
The afternoon passed in a blur of laughter, conversation, food, and cocktails. Our little crew stayed outdoors, partying until well into the evening, but Bree was the first to call it a night, yawning heavily.
She and Dallas left to drive back to Shadow Grove, where they'd recently moved into their own place together. Anna and Steinwick left not long after them, citing old age.
I gave them a suspicious look as they left together, and Kody snickered a laugh.
"They're totally fucking," he whispered in my ear.
"You think?" I hissed back at him. "Steinwick must be, like, twenty years older than her."
He just shrugged. "So what? Age is just a number, and they clearly click."
I nodded, agreeing on that statement.
"I think we might turn in as well," Connie told us with a smile. "We'll see you kids at breakfast." She and Ana made their way up to the house, hand in hand, and I watched them lovingly. The fact that they were no longer hiding their relationship from Archer made my whole heart happy.
The guys and I stayed out on the gazebo drinking and chatting with Seph, Cass, and James for a while longer, then when it got late, Steele offered to show everyone their rooms. I was itching to see the rest of the house, so I jumped at the chance to come along for the tour.
Steele took his time with it too. And there was a lot of house to cover. After he delivered our guests to their rooms, he laced our fingers together and showed me the rest of the house. Namely, my bedroom.
"Wait, how's this going to work?" I asked, standing in the middle of my gorgeous master suite. "We have our own rooms?" He'd pointed out their bedrooms along the hallway before we reached mine.
He just shrugged. "It can work however you want it to, Hellcat. There are no rules. I sort of figure we'll all pretty much live in here, anyway."
I nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, I mean, it's plenty big enough to share."
He laughed. "Even if it wasn't, it's where you are. But we figured it's good to have spare rooms to store all our crap and also for nights when you need your own space."
"Oh, yeah." I blinked several times, looking around the room again.
"Is that... okay?" Steele sounded hesitant. "If you don't—"
"No!" I cut him off before he could misinterpret my silence. "No, fuck this is all... Max, this is beyond perfect. It's just fucking hitting me, you know? This is our house. All of ours. Not Archer's house that we all happen to live in. It just feels really real."
His arms looped around my waist, and his lips pressed against my hair, kissing the faint scar from where his bullet had grazed me. "Are you okay with real, Hellcat?"
My breath rushed out in a long exhale. "God yes," I whispered. "I've never been so okay with anything in my life."
I physically felt the tension slide from his limbs, and he hugged me tighter. "Thank fuck for that. 'Cause we're never letting you go, Hellcat. You're it for all of us, forever."
Words couldn't encompass how much I agreed with that sentiment, so I let my actions speak for themselves. I kissed him with my whole heart, my hands clasping his face and my body curving into his as he kissed me back.
Before I could take it any further, though, he took a reluctant step away and gave me a predatory stare. "Too damn tempting, Hellcat," he murmured. "But we've already been gone for long enough. Kody and Arch will be getting impatient waiting for me to bring you back."
I got the feeling he didn't just mean that they would be bored on their own, so I let him pull me back out of the bedroom—my bedro
om—and through the house.
From the deck, I could see lights out on the lake somewhere, and I squinted into the darkness, instantly worried.
"Max, what—" I grabbed his hand in alarm, but the smile he shot me said this was all part of their plan.
"You feeling up for a swim, Hellcat?" he suggested, giving me a wicked grin.
My brows shot up. "I'm not wearing a swimsuit."
His smile spread wider, and he tugged his T-shirt off in one smooth motion, dropping it in the grass as we continued down toward the pier. "So?"
My jaw dropped, but then he gave me that look. The one that so clearly challenged me. Fucking hell, he knew I couldn't back down when dignity was on the line.
We got to the end of the pier, and he pushed his pants off, then executed a perfect dive into the inky waters. Totally naked.
"Are you coming in?" he called back to me when his head broke the surface once more. "I promise it's not that cold."
I groaned, knowing full well how chilly it'd been on my feet earlier. Yet... I couldn't let him have all the fun.
Hesitant, I started to tug my tank top off, then looked back up at the house, which was lit up like a Christmas tree. "What about—"
"They won't see," he assured me before I could even fully form the protest. "It's so dark out here; I promise, we're totally alone."
That was all the reassurance I needed. I tossed my tank top aside, then my bra, then shimmied out of my shorts and panties. Gasping a deep breath, I plunged into the dark water and instantly felt the biting cold seize my body.
Not that cold, my ass.
"Wh-what th-the f-fuck, M-max?" I exclaimed when I popped up near him. "It's fr-freezing!"
He just laughed, the shithead, and dragged me into his arms. "You'll warm up in no time," he told me with a chuckle, then kissed me long and hard. "Come on, we have one last surprise."
He started gliding in the direction I'd seen the lights, toward where they'd pointed out a diving platform earlier, and I grumbled about being tricked as I swam with him. Goddamn sexy shark that he was, I couldn't resist.
As we drew closer, my breath caught all over again. A small boat was tied up beside the wide dive platform, right beside the pretty awesome waterslide. That boat explained how Kody and Archer had pulled off what had to be the most romantic date setting I'd ever seen.
The whole platform was set up with pillows and soft blankets and illuminated by a dozen hurricane lamps with flickering candles inside. Exquisite arrangements of flowers complimented the candles, and near the pillows, a dessert tray was all set up for the four of us. There was even a bottle of Champagne chilling in an ice-bucket. They'd thought of everything.
"Are you guys for real right now?" I gaped, holding onto the edge of the platform with my fingers.
Archer reached down to pull me from the water, then his brows shot right up. "You're naked," he observed, shooting Steele a puzzled look. "What happened to getting swimsuits on upstairs?"
Steele just pulled himself out of the water and shrugged. "I got distracted. And I like seeing Hellcat naked, so win-win."
Archer rolled his eyes, and Kody tossed us towels to wrap up in. Steele had been right, though; once I'd gotten used to the water, it hadn't been as cold as I'd thought.
"You guys are seriously setting the bar high here," I teased as I wrapped myself up in the towel and made my way over to the pillows.
"Good," Kody replied, nudging me to sit down, then he knelt on one of the blankets as he opened the Champagne. "Forces these unromantic fucks to keep stepping up their game, right?" He winked at me like we were in on a joke together, and Archer smacked him in the back of the head playfully.
"So, you guys set up this ultra-romantic picnic in the middle of a lake with flowers, candles, Champagne..." I accepted a glass from Kody and took a sip. I was already decently buzzed, but I really liked this Champagne. "Just for fun?"
"Some might say we did it because we love you, Princess," Archer commented in a dry tone, and I snickered a laugh.
"Uh-huh, some might say that," I agreed, teasing. "But then Steele got me naked, so some might also wonder if you had ulterior motives."
Kody gave a fake gasp of outrage as he handed out drinks to the other guys before reclining into the pillows beside me. "Babe, I can't possibly imagine what you mean by that," he lied, holding my gaze unblinkingly as he took a huge sip of his champagne.
I smirked back at him, shaking my head but playing along. "I'm sure you can't."
"So, what do you think of the house?" Archer asked, changing the subject as he turned on a little portable stereo, filling the night air with soft piano music.
Steele's music.
My lips parted in surprise as I heard the original compositions that he'd been working on over the last few weeks pouring from the speaker. He gave me a knowing smile back but didn't comment.
"The house?" I repeated, refocusing on Archer's question. I screwed up my nose, gazing back at the lit-up lodge on the shore of the lake. "It's okay, I guess."
Kody choked on his Champagne, and Steele clapped him on the back to help out.
Archer just gave me a flat stare. "Just okay, huh?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, I mean... is there even a gym? Where will you guys work out? And I didn't see a piano anywhere. We obviously need to add all of that."
His unimpressed stare melted into an adoring smile as he realized what I was saying. "Yeah, well, we didn't have a lot of time to get everything perfect. But aside from that..."
"Aside from that?" I turned my face to look at the house again, a soft smile on my lips. "You guys fucking nailed it."
"Thank fuck," Kody groaned, collapsing into the pillows and making me laugh.
I took another big mouthful of my drink, then placed the glass aside. "I've got one really important question, though."
Archer's brow shot up. "Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Are you sure no one can see us out here?"
Steele answered me. "Not unless they have binoculars, and I thoughtfully didn't provide those to any of our guests. Total privacy, Hellcat."
"Well then," I replied, loosening my towel and tossing it aside. "I believe someone has a promise to deliver on."
Archer met my stare unflinchingly and carefully placed his glass aside.
"Are you sure about this, Kate?" His tone was carefully even, like he was trying not to influence my decision. Silly boy.
I smirked. "I'm more than sure. Are you?" It was no secret that Archer was the least comfortable with sharing, but he'd come a hell of a long way in recent months.
He glanced over at Kody and Steele, but neither one of them said anything as they waited for his response.
After a second, he jerked a nod and prowled toward me on hands and knees. "Fuck yes, I am." His mouth crashed into mine with a force that pushed me back into the pillows, but I wasn't complaining. Instead, I kissed him back with equal fervor, my lips parting to give him access to my mouth.
Archer groaned as our tongues danced together and my legs wrapped around his waist to pull him tighter to me. He and Kody were only in swim shorts, and the thin fabric was doing little to disguise how very okay with this situation he was feeling.
He uttered a soft curse, pulling back from my lips and grasping my thighs with his huge hands. I barely had a moment to gasp, before Steele tipped my face toward him, claiming my lips as his own.
I gave a delighted sigh as his tongue stud flicked over my tongue, and Archer kissed his way down my body, circling my bellybutton with kisses as he spread my legs wider apart.
Hell yeah, that's what I was here for.
Kody leaned in on the opposite side from Steele, kissing my neck and cupping one of my bare breasts with his warm, calloused hand.
"How do you wanna do this, babe?" he whispered in my ear, his voice low and seductive. "You're calling the shots here. Wanna make Steele sit back and watch as punishment for shooting you?"
"Hey!" Steele protested, breaking away fro
m my lips to glare at Kody. "I heard that, prick. It was weeks ago, okay?"
Still, his eyes flashed with lingering guilt, so I cupped his cheek and brought his face back to mine to kiss. "You know I don't blame you, Max," I murmured against his lips.
"I do," Archer offered, then flicked his tongue over my clit and made me jolt with desire.
"Assholes," Steele grumbled, but he returned to kissing me, harder this time like he was still apologizing for grazing me with that bullet.
Archer's lips sealed over my clit as he sucked at the throbbing flesh, and I squirmed under his touch, needing more. I'd been turned on all damn day, ever since they'd announced having bought my dream house for all four of us to live in together. I didn't have the patience for drawn-out foreplay.
"Fuck," I moaned against Steele's lips. "Max... do me a favor?"
He pulled back an inch, his brow hitching in curiosity. "Anything, Hellcat."
I grinned at my small victory. "Fuck my mouth."
They were all used to my demands enough by now that he wasn't shocked. He just chuckled and shrugged, then unhooked his towel from around his waist and let it drop to reveal his hard, pierced cock.
"Yes, ma'am," he teased, rising up on his knees to offer me exactly what I wanted without Archer stopping in his task.
I licked my lips in excitement, then opened my mouth wide as Steele gripped the back of my head and guided his dick between my lips. When I swirled my tongue around his tip, he moaned, and Archer sank two fingers into my aching pussy.
Fuck yes.
My mouth too full to speak, I just groaned and took Steele deeper. His breathing hitched in the most delicious way as I gazed up at him, and his fingers tightened in my hair. He knew how I liked it and was more than happy to deliver. His hips moved, pushing further and further into my throat and forcing me to relax into taking all of him.
"Pretty sure I'm gonna need in on that," Kody told me, his teeth tugging on my earlobe. He shed his swim shorts, kicking them aside, then rose up to kneel on my other side with his own erect cock at the ready, waiting.
Steele groaned a small protest but released my hair and let his pierced cock withdraw from my lips. I barely had enough time to swipe my tongue over my lips once, then Kody was filling my mouth with his huge, smooth shaft.
