Faithful in Pleasure

by Lacey Thorn

  “Since I was a junior in high school.”

  “I’ll kill him,” Houston muttered and turned toward the building.

  She grabbed his arm and tugged him back to her, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him close to keep him in place. “It’s my fault as much as his.”

  “How the fuck do you figure that?”

  “I let him get away with it,” she admitted with a sigh.

  “Why?”

  “I was afraid. I don’t think I realized that until today. This was my first real job, the only one I’ve ever known.” She laughed. “I just realized something. Skye works as a manager at a club. It feeds her need to always be in control. She can’t stand anything that threatens her control or anyone. Deja is a free spirit. She works as a temp going from job to job, always something new. Until recently, she was the same way with relationships. And me. I find something and hold on tight, so afraid of losing it I don’t realize it may not be the best thing for me.”

  “Baby,” he whispered the word as he clasped her tightly against him.

  “I’m okay, Houston. To be honest, I think it was talking to you this morning that woke me up. Skye and Deja have been trying to get me to leave this job almost from the day I took it. But I think they both know how important it was to me.”

  “They love you.”

  “They do. I’m very lucky.”

  “What would you like to do today?”

  “I have no idea,” she admitted as she tugged her keys from her pocket and handed them to him. “I’m a little shaky. Adrenaline crash, I think. Hope you don’t mind driving.”

  He took the keys and with his arm around her waist hugging her against his side, he led her to the passenger side and opened the door for her. “I’d understand if you wanted to go home, or call one of your sisters up and spend the day with them.”

  She turned on the seat, so her legs could grip the outside of his thighs where he stood in the open door. “You’re not getting out of our date that easily,” she warned him. “I believe you made some promises yesterday. Something about marking me?”

  She felt his body go rigid at her reminder, and she dropped her gaze to take in the solid bulge of his erection pressed against his jeans. She reached out and let her hands trace over him. He caught her fingers and brought them back to his chest, cradling them there.

  “Today, I want to learn all about you. I want to know what you like, what you hate, what you wish.”

  “I’m not that complicated.”

  “But you are that interesting.”

  She was shaking her head, opening her mouth to refute his claim when he kissed her. Easing back, he met her gaze.

  “You are to me, Melda.”

  He stepped back and tapped her knee so she’d turn and move her legs out of the door. He closed it with a smooth click, and she watched him move around the hood to the driver’s door.

  He was smiling as he jumped in. “Where should we start our day?”

  Melda sat for a minute while she thought carefully about what she wanted to do. “Let’s go back to my house. There are some things there I’d like to show you.”

  He groaned and started to shake his head, which made Melda laugh.

  “I’m not going to seduce you. Not yet. Not intentionally.”

  “Baby, you just breathe and I’m hard.”

  She felt her cheeks blush at his words, which was laughable considering all the things they’d done. Those thoughts made her think of how his palm had made her ass blush and increased the color on her cheeks.

  Houston laughed. “I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I’m certain I don’t want to know. I’m already on edge.” He reached across the seat and linked their fingers together, tugging her over until she sat beside him.

  “Do you have any other family?” Melda asked as he turned and headed back toward her house.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders, but she felt the brush of tension in him. “No family.”

  Melda wasn’t sure what to say. She could hear a world of hurt in that brief response. So she squeezed his hand and leaned closer into his side. He’d thrown the words out nonchalantly, as if they meant nothing.

  “What about those last few years of school?”

  “I played sports in school. Joined every club I could think of. Anything that didn’t require a lot of money.” He shrugged again, then glanced down at her with a smile. “But I found family in the Marines. Hell, I have two brothers now. We even have the same last name.”

  Her heart broke for him. So big and strong, and yet, his heart was incredibly tender. Maybe that was one of the reasons she found it so easy to talk to him.

  Houston pulled in the drive, and together they walked up the path and entered the house. She led him to the living room and told him to have a seat before she headed to her bedroom and opened the drawer she kept her personal mementos in. She sorted through the bundles of letters and took a rubber-banded stack out, then headed back to Houston.

  “Here.” She held the bundle of letters out to him.

  “What are these?” He took them and began working the bands off.

  “These are the letters I wrote to you that I never mailed.”

  His gaze sought hers. “Why?”

  “Because they were too personal, revealed too much. I thought maybe you’d like to read them.”

  He searched her eyes with his, as if trying to look deep inside her. “Do you want me to read them?”

  Slowly, she nodded her head. “I do. I really do. While you read, I’m going to go take a look in the kitchen. I thought maybe, if you didn’t have other plans, I’d cook dinner for us all tonight.”

  Houston smiled and stood, letting the letters rest on the cushion as he took her in his arms and hugged her close. “That sounds great. Is it all right if I join you when I’m done reading?”

  “Do you like to cook?”

  He grinned, dropping a kiss to her lips. “No, but I’d watch you do anything.”

  She laughed. “I’ll go see what my options are.”

  She left him there with the letters she’d been too afraid to send. Those were the ones where she’d talked about her fear of being left or replaced. They were the ones where she laid her heart bare, sharing all her hopes and dreams, not just the ones she was comfortable sharing. Those were the letters where she shared all her broken pieces, where she confessed to her fear of being alone and unlovable. She’d vowed to rip them up or burn them. Instead, they were kept in the same drawer as the ones she’d received from the fictional “Davis”. But, for some reason, this felt right. As if Houston was meant to see them, to read them, and know these things about her. She’d share them with Darius and Cruz as well. But for now, this was right.

  She glanced over the bar at him several times, but he never looked up while he read. She did her best to keep her hands and mind occupied with planning a meal for their dinner that night.

  Houston joined her a short time later, his arms wrapping around her waist, his head dipping so his lips could brush along her neck as she stirred a pot of melting chocolate on the stove. She’d decided to dip different fruits and let them cool on wax paper.

  “You’re beautiful,” he whispered at her temple, and she knew he wasn’t just commenting on her appearance. “I left the letters out front for Darius to pick up, so he and Cruz can share this part of you too. Is that all right with you?”

  She nodded, reaching down to turn the heat off and move the pot.

  “I want to make love to you, to just forget the rules and agreements we all made. I want to hold you in my arms and show you how much it means to me that you chose to share this with me, with us.” He gently turned her to face him. “I want to tell you how amazing you are, how you make me feel every time you smile at me.”

  “How do I make you feel?” She interrupted him to ask.

  “Alive. So incredibly alive. The tilt of your lips and my heartbeat speeds up, my palms get sweaty. You make me nervous.” He lau
ghed. “I’ve faced armed gunmen with more calm.”

  “I’m not that bad.”

  “You’re perfect. To me. For us. In every way that matters. And I hope you’ve decided to give us all the chance to show you how great this can be. Darius, Cruz, and I want to make you happy, every day for the rest of our lives.”

  She leaned up on tiptoe to kiss him. She was starting to believe it was possible to have this for more than the four dates they’d agreed on. When she was with them, the rest of the world seemed to melt away. The only people whose opinions mattered to her were her sisters. Deja would get it right away, and Skye would accept it when she saw how happy Melda was. Maybe there was more to life than holding on to what you had. Maybe the best things came when you least expected it, and you weren’t afraid to reach for them.

  Chapter Eight

  Darius and Cruz came over for dinner and then headed back down the street to do whatever Houston had instructed them to do for tonight. She was still surprised at how easy it was to be with all of them. Usually sex changed a relationship, and she’d been worried it might cause problems between the guys, despite their assurances and what Deja had shared about her men. But there was an easy camaraderie among them that reassured her.

  Now she and Houston were leaving her house behind and walking to the one he was renting with Darius and Cruz. She knew the rules, knew what to expect when she stepped in the door. Her heart was racing, her body shaking with nervous energy. Yesterday, Houston had given her an idea of what he might have planned for tonight. She couldn’t wait.

  “I can feel your hands shaking,” Houston said as he lifted their linked fingers to his mouth, placing a kiss on the back of her hand.

  She laughed. “I’m excited.”

  He grinned. “I’m glad to hear that.” They reached the door and he turned to face her. “You remember the rules.”

  It was a statement, not a question, but she nodded anyway.

  Houston surprised her by giving a knock on the door. Darius opened it, and she bit her lip as a surge of lust fired her veins. He wore a low-slung pair of lounge pants, leaving his chest blessedly bare and so sexy she ached to touch him.

  “Step in,” Houston ordered.

  She stepped in and found herself trapped between two big bodies as Houston joined them and shut the door behind him. Darius reached down and found the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head and reaching for her bra. Houston reached around her to undo her jeans and ease both them and her underwear down over her hips. She’d worn slide-on shoes and easily kicked them aside as he prompted her to lift each foot. Then she was completely naked.

  She couldn’t see Houston’s face, but she could feel the bulge of his cock under denim where he pressed against her back. Darius, she could see. His cock was swollen, tenting the pants he wore and making her want to jerk them off and go to her knees to taste him.

  “Blindfold,” Houston said, shaking her out of her lust-filled daze.

  Darius held up a black cloth, and Houston reached over her to take it from him.

  “What…?” She broke off with a sigh as the cloth covered her eyes, blocking out everything else. She couldn’t see anything. They seemed to have a thing for blindfolds. She wondered if they’d let her use it on them. She had to admit not being able to see them really did amplify her other senses.

  “Shhh,” Houston crooned behind her as she felt him tying the cloth in place behind her head. “Trust me?”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. She did trust him.

  “All you have to do for now is relax and feel. No work. Nothing but all the pleasure you can stand.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  She felt Houston’s lips skimming her neck from her ear down, then he moved, his fingers grasping hers once more as he tugged her slowly toward him.

  “Touch me.” He pulled both her hands up to his bare chest, and she wondered when he’d taken his shirt off. “Use me to guide you where I want you to go.”

  Each step he took, she followed. She could feel the air cooling, feel her nipples tightening and her pussy contracting. No matter what he had planned, she knew without doubt, she’d enjoy every moment of it.

  “We’re here. Let me guide you.” His hands helped her, until she was sitting up on something. She felt around with her hands trying to figure out what it was.

  “Massage table.” Houston said. “We’re going to start here. We’ll touch every part of your body, massaging, rubbing, touching.” He pressed her backward with his body, using his arms to help her as she lowered until she was fully reclined on the table. “I want you to be completely relaxed before we move on, completely sated, as if the bones in your body have melted into pools of pleasure.”

  She parted her lips, but his fingers kept her words trapped inside.

  “Shhh. No words. Just feel, Melda. Just feel.”

  The first thing she felt was the drizzle of heated oil over her skin. It painted a trail over her chest, across her stomach, and onto her thighs. Then three sets of firm hands touched her, skimming, rubbing, kneading. They worked the oil into her skin, their fingers managing to entice and arouse as they soothed and caressed.

  She could tell who was touching where just by the feel of their hands. Amazing how quickly she’d become attuned to their touches. Cruz was at her feet, massaging her from the knee down. Who knew how sensual it could be to have someone rubbing and caressing your feet, the back of your knees, and all along your calf muscles?

  Darius was running his long fingers over her stomach down along the tops of her thighs and back up. He touched all around her pussy, but never gave it more than a brief touch. She was tingling with need, wanting to feel those slick fingers buried inside, rubbing her walls and caressing her clit.

  Houston was working her arms now. He’d caressed her breasts, stimulating her nipples into taut points of need before moving on to her shoulders and neck. Now he was working his oiled fingers down her arms to her wrists, then back up.

  They were pampering her, and she loved it. She’d never dated anyone who really pampered her, and why was that? She was too relaxed to think on it now, and really, it didn’t matter. She was getting it now, from them, and they’d all expressed a desire for this to be more than a fling. Could she agree?

  “Shhh. Relax.” Houston’s voice crooned by her head as he ran his fingers across her forehead and rubbed her temples. “I can practically see your brain working by the expression on your face. Just let us take care of you. That’s what we want to do.”

  “I thought this was your night? You’re doing this for me, and I appreciate that. But if this is about me quitting my job or the letters, I’m okay. I promise.”

  Houston bent low to kiss her softly on the lips. “This is what I want. I want to show you how much you mean to us. We want to pamper you, to treat you the way you deserve, to shower you with all the things you’ve been hoping for. Because we want them to, and we want them with you.”

  “Then make love to me,” she pleaded. “All of you. Make love to me.” She lifted her hands and removed the blindfold, wanting to see them.

  Darius and Cruz both glanced at Houston, and she watched, as they seemed to have a private conversation with just their eyes. She wondered what they had been through in their time together as Marines that they were able to be so close and read each other so well.

  Houston’s gaze met hers as he moved to her side across from Darius. He slid one hand under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her high against his chest, and carried her down the hall toward the bedroom they’d been using. Darius and Cruz followed.

  Houston laid her softly on the bed before stepping back. She watched avidly as all three stripped the rest of the way, each of them so breathtakingly masculine she almost moaned.

  Houston joined her first, kissing his way slowly up her body. He’d stop to tease a spot with his tongue, nibble it with his teeth, before moving on. He licked over her pussy, nipping her clit between his lip
s before kissing over her quivering belly and using his teeth and tongue to bring her nipples throbbing with need.

  “Houston,” she moaned his name, her hands reaching for him.

  He lifted his head and smiled at her. “We’re going to take turns making love to you. One at a time. We’ll bring you to orgasm after orgasm until none of us can hold back any more.”

  “Yes,” she panted in agreement, writhing beneath him on the bed.

  “And when you’re limp with pleasure, when we’re hovering on the edge of joining you, that’s when we’re going to surround you and mark you as ours.”

  Her eyes flew to his gaze, seeing the dominance there. It turned her on to see the way his eyes and his manner screamed mine when he looked at her. Darius and Cruz both wore the same expressions. She’d always thought if a man looked at her like that, she’d be angry, thinking he saw her as weak or incapable. Instead, she felt empowered, as if there was something incredible about her to inspire such feelings in not one but three men.

  Houston came to his knees between her sprawled thighs and took a condom packet from Cruz. She sat up and took his cock in her hands, running her palms up and down his length before leaning in and placing a damp kiss on the head.

  “Let me?” she asked and watched his abs clench as he took a breath and handed her the opened condom.

  She took pleasure in slowly rolling it on him, reaching down to caress his taut scrotum with her nails as she finished. He gritted his teeth and groaned as he gripped her by the wrist and eased her back down to the bed. His cock rubbed along her crease, slipping between the slick folds of her pussy. The massage oil made her skin slippery, and she loved the feel of his body rubbing over hers as he took position between her thighs. He used his hands to lift hers above her head and held them imprisoned there.

  “I want you to keep your eyes on my face,” he crooned. “I want to watch your every expression while I pleasure you.”

  His cock lodged at her portal, and holding her gaze, he thrust deep. She moaned in approval as he began a steady rhythm. She dug her heels into the bed, bending her knees and arching up into each thrust, wanting more, wanting harder, deeper.