by Becca Van
How could she do this to him?
He’d thought she was different, shy and innocent. He shook his head as he hurried back to his room. She was just like every other slut he’d been with. Leading him on until she had what she wanted and then walking away without a backward glance. Well, Craig wasn’t going to let her get away with it. He’d had enough of women using him for their own selfish purposes and it was time he made one of them pay.
Tammy Parks would rue the day she’d ever met him.
Chapter Thirteen
Tammy sighed as she woke. She was sore but she was happy. She’d spent the night cuddled up between her two mates after they’d claimed her together and she could feel some of their emotions. Phelan and Hopper were happy and content but there was something else buried under those two emotions she couldn’t distinguish. However, she didn’t want to delve too deeply into their feelings yet. They might have claimed her fully and she loved them more than she could ever say, but she still didn’t know what they felt for her. Whether they’d only claimed her because they couldn’t resist the mating heat or because it was expected. There was also the fact that they would turn and remain animalistic if they hadn’t claimed her after they first touched her a couple of weeks ago.
“Morning, baby.” Phelan squeezed her waist and kissed the top of her head.
Tammy pushed her misgivings aside and decided to concentrate on the here and now. If she took each day as it came and stopped worrying about what might be and what had passed, maybe they’d have a chance at being happy with each other.
She opened her eyes and met Phelan’s gaze. “Morning.”
“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Hopper asked from behind her. She moaned when he nuzzled his mating mark on her shoulder.
“Good.”
“Are you tender, Tammy?”
Tammy glanced away but Phelan palmed her cheek and brought her gaze back to his. Her face heated with embarrassment which she thought was ridiculous since she’d been carnally intimate with her men the previous night. “A little,” she answered honestly.
“Just your muscles or are your ass and pussy sore, too?” Hopper rubbed his stubbled chin on her shoulder.
“All,” Tammy squeaked her reply and then cleared her throat.
“Roll onto your stomach, baby.” Phelan stroked his thumb down her cheek before rubbing it over her lower lip. He leaned forward and then kissed her lightly on the lips before drawing away again.
Tammy rolled onto her belly, resting her cheek on the bed. The mattress dipped on either side of her and then the covers were tugged down. She shivered when the cool air caressed over her warm skin.
“You have the sexiest ass I’ve ever seen.” Hopper squeezed both ass cheeks before he began to rub his hands up and down her legs, ass, and hips.
Phelan hummed when he started kneading her shoulders, up and down her neck on either side of her vertebrae, and then down her back, digging his fingers into any knots he found.
Tammy moaned and groaned as the tension began to ease and she relaxed deeper into the mattress. The longer they massaged and kneaded her muscles the more calm and stress-free she felt, until she felt as if she was floating on a cloud.
After a while, the strokes of their hands changed and became sexual. Hopper nudged her thighs apart and rubbed his hands up and down her inner thighs, getting higher and higher. Closer and closer to her wet pussy. When he dipped the tip of his finger into soaked well, her inner muscles clenched around him.
“Roll over, sweetheart.” Hopper punctuated his statement by giving her a light slap on the ass.
Tammy rolled and just as she settled, Phelan grabbed a pillow, lifted her hips and shoved it under her pelvis. “What are you doing?”
“I need a taste, sweetheart.” Hopper said as he shimmied down onto his stomach between her splayed thighs.
“You don’t have to…” Tammy moaned when Hopper licked through her folds.
“We know we don’t have to do anything, baby, but we love seeing you come apart in our arms.” Phelan molded her breast in his hand before strumming his thumb over her nipple.
“But, what about you guys?” Tammy asked between pants.
“Don’t worry about us, Tams,” Hopper answered against her pussy causing her to moan again. “Hmm,” he slurped. “You taste so fucking delicious, sweetheart.”
“Oh.” Tammy whimpered as she spread her legs wider, bent her knees and pulled them up toward her body.
“That’s it, baby. Give Hopper access to that sweet cunt.” Phelan slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her rapaciously, his tongue sliding along hers before twirling around then sliding against hers again.
When Hopper began to stroke two fingers in and out of her pussy while licking her clit at the same time, Tammy began to rock her hips.
Phelan broke the kiss then licked and nibbled his way down her neck toward her breasts. He drew one nipple into his mouth before suckling on it strongly, while pinching and plucking at the other nipple.
Fiery heat built up on her insides, molten liquid pooled low in her belly and began to course through her veins. Tammy moaned and groaned. The loose muscles in her body grew taut all over again and her legs began to tremble.
Phelan scraped the edge of his teeth over her nipple before laving his tongue over the tip of the distended nub, then moving to suckle on the other nipple.
“I love this wet pussy, sweetheart.” Hopper flicked his tongue over her clit as he drove his finger deep into her cunt. Her internal muscles flexed around his digits and she groaned when the tips rubbed over the sweet spot inside of her.
“Oh. Yes,” Tammy cried at the pleasurable friction rubbing along her walls. The pressure grew higher, the coil grew tighter until she was teetering right on the edge of the precipice.
“Now,” Hopper said just before he sucked her clit into her mouth and suckled on the super sensitive bundle of nerves. Phelan bit down around one nipple and squeezed the other firmly between his finger and thumb.
Tammy screamed as she climaxed. Her body shaking and shivering, her pussy clenching and releasing as she surfed the waves of euphoria.
When she came back to herself it was to find Hopper and Phelan caressing their large, manly hands over her body, soothing her as the quivers began to wane.
“God, you’re beautiful.” Phelan brushed the hair back off her face.
“I’m—”
Hopper pressed a finger over her lips, stilling her words. “Don’t argue, sweetheart. We think you’re the sexiest, most gorgeous woman we’ve ever met.”
Tammy smiled shyly, glancing at her men from under her lowered eyelashes. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank us for being truthful, baby.”
Tammy’s stomach took that inopportune moment to growl loudly. Phelan chuckled and Hopper laughed outright. She gazed from one to the other and back again. They were both so damn handsome they took her breath away. Her heart flipped with excitement when it finally sank in that they were her mates. Hers. After years of watching them from a distance, they had claimed her. They’d never be with any other woman but her. They were her partners for the rest of her life.
“Why don’t you go and grab a shower, sweetheart.” Hopper rubbed his hand over her tummy as he smiled and then winked at her. “We’ll have breakfast ready when you come out.”
“Okay.” Tammy sat up, rolled to her hands and knees before crawling to the edge of the mattress. She was just about to stand when both Phelan and Hopper groaned. She glanced back over her shoulder to find their gazes glued to ass and no doubt her pussy, too.
She slipped from the bed and would have fallen if Phelan hadn’t snagged her around the waist. She was giggling silently. Never had she felt as sexy as she did right then. Feminine power flowed through her veins as her confidence grew. She smiled up at Phelan, rubbing her hand over his chest loving the feel of his warm skin beneath her palm.
“If you don’t stop touching me like that, you’re goi
ng to find yourself back in bed.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. “I know you’re tender, baby. You need time to recover. Go on.” Phelan straightened and gave her a gentle nudge toward the bathroom. Tammy decided to rush through her shower, so she could help her mates make breakfast.
* * * *
“She’s happy.” Hopper glanced at Phelan as he stirred the scrambled eggs.
“She is.” Phelan flipped the bacon in the pan and pressed the button on the toaster.
“Are we going to sit down after breakfast and hash everything out?” Hopper asked.
“If we do that we could upset the apple cart.” Phelan met his gaze.
“Yeah, I know but if we don’t lay everything out on the table and it continues to fester like it has been, we could end up losing her.” Hopper sighed, grabbed the toast from the toaster, buttered it, and then served the eggs. Phelan drained the bacon and then set pieces on each plate.
They carried the food over to the table before going back to the kitchen for the silverware and the mugs of coffee.
Tammy entered the kitchen just as Hopper pulled his chair out. He moved hers back and pushed her seat back in as she sat down. “This looks yummy. Thanks for cooking.”
“You don’t need to thank us, baby.” Phelan ran his hand over her head and hair after he took his seat. “We like taking care of you.”
Hopper saw Tammy frown as she looked back at her plate but she didn’t respond. They didn’t talk as they ate their breakfast and when Tammy was done, she pushed her plate away and wrapped her hands around her coffee mug. She always did that when she was thinking hard about something and though he wanted to ask her what was going on in that busy head of hers, he waited.
His patience paid off when she began to talk.
“Why did you claim me?”
“What?” Phelan asked, glancing toward her.
“Do you really need me to repeat the question or are you stalling?” Tammy asked.
“Why would you think I’d need to stall?” Phelan snapped before taking a deep breath as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”
“I think we should take this into the living room,” Hopper suggested as he stood. “Do either of you want more coffee?”
“I’m good.” Tammy tensed as she began to stand, but Hopper dragged her chair out of the way and stepped back so she could proceed him and Phelan.
He met Phelan’s gaze. “You need to stay calm, Phelan. The last thing we need is to upset her and having her run from us.”
“I know.” Phelan scrubbed a hand over his face and said quietly, “I love her so much. She ties me up in knots.”
“Me, too.” Hopper squeezed Phelan’s shoulder and then headed toward the living room.
He hesitated mid-step when he saw that Tammy had chosen to sit in one of the armchairs rather than on the sofa. He hated that she needed distance from them, and although he wanted to scoop her up and carry her over to the sofa, he refrained.
Phelan sat in the corner of the sofa and Hopper sat on the other end.
Hopper decided to ask her a question before responding to her earlier question. “Why do you think we claimed you?”
Tammy glanced at the floor but then her feisty side came out and she lifted her head, meeting first his gaze then Phelan’s before locking eyes with him again. “Because of the mating heat and…”
“And?” Phelan encouraged.
Tammy’s cheeks paled but she kept her gaze on them. “So you wouldn’t turn into your sabears and remain that way.”
“You think so little of us?” Phelan asked angrily.
“Phelan, knock it off.” Hopper glared at his best friend.
Phelan nodded and sank further into the corner of the sofa.
“Let me explain some things to you. I know we’ve already gone over this stuff but you obviously need to hear it again.” Hopper paused to drain his coffee cup and get his thoughts in order. “We’ve known you were our mate for a long time. The second you came back home from college, we could smell your desire for us, but we wanted to give you time to settle back in and get to know us again.”
“Oh god.” Tammy’s face flamed and she covered her cheeks with her hands.
“Don’t be embarrassed, baby. It’s all natural.”
Tammy nodded and lowered her hands.
“Your pheromones grew stronger and we knew you were our mate. We kept our distance to give you time to grow up, to mature. We had plans to court you and mate you, but your dads wanted us to wait. They said you needed more time to experience more from life before being claimed by us.” Hopper frowned as if trying to get his next words in the right order. “We wanted you so bad, Tams, but you needed to see what was out in the world away from this sheltered isolated island. As much as we hated that Talon and Royal wanted us to wait, after thinking over what they’d said, we agreed with them. You needed more time to decide what you wanted out of life, and we had to step back so that you could.”
Tammy nodded. “You told me that before and I told you I understood your reasoning behind your decision. Why—”
“Let Hopper finish, baby,” Phelan said.
Tammy nodded again.
“We were so much older than you, sweetheart, and though we didn’t want you to go, we wanted you to be happy. If getting a degree made you happy, then we weren’t going to stop you.”
“I only did it out of spite,” Tammy said.
“What?” Phelan frowned.
“I was so hurt that you hadn’t claimed me when I turned eighteen, and then I got mad and decided to get back at you by leaving.”
“Shit. Really?” Hopper had no idea she’d left because of them.
“Yes, really.” Tammy crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Why did you avoid me when I’d finished college?”
“Fear,” Hopper answered without any hesitation.
“You were afraid of me?” Tammy frowned.
“Not of you, no.”
“Then what were you—”
“We were scared of hurting you.” Phelan shoved to his feet and began to pace.
“You would never hurt me,” Tammy said with so much conviction, Hopper ended up smiling.
“No, we wouldn’t, but we are so much bigger and heavier than you are. We had been pining after you for years and we were worried we’d end up hurting you in our exuberance.” Phelan met her gaze.
“Did you think I would break?”
“No, Tams, but we’d spent years lusting after your sexy body and we weren’t sure we’d be able to curb our hunger.”
“Oh.”
“Add in the mating heat and we were scared shitless,” Phelan explained.
“I’m sorry,” Tammy murmured.
“What for, baby?” Phelan scooped Tammy up from her seat, walked back over to the sofa, and sat with her in his lap.
Hopper scooted across the sofa and threaded his fingers with hers before lifting it to his mouth and kissing the back of it.
“For thinking you didn’t want me anymore. Neither of you said more than two words to me and I thought you didn’t like me anymore, let alone want to be mated with me.”
“Fuck!” Hopper sighed. “We’re the ones who should be sorry, sweetheart. We’re not great communicators, if you haven’t worked that out by now. We should have explained everything to you. I’m sorry we hurt you.”
A slow smile spread across Tammy’s lips and emotions poured into his heart and soul. Love, happiness, and lust. Hopper groaned and rubbed over his chest. His heart was so full it was overwhelming. It took him a few moments to realize that Tammy had knocked down the walls she’d encased her heart in and the emotions he was feeling were hers.
Tammy scrambled from Phelan’s lap and straddled Hopper’s. She cupped his face between her hands and stared deeply into his eyes. “I love you, Hopper Sawyer. I have loved you since I was a little girl and will continue to love you until the day I die.”
Hopper wrapped his arms around
Tammy’s waist and bent toward her mouth. She leaned up meeting him half way and then they kissed hungrily, passionately but so lovingly, tears burned the back of his eyes. He pressed his forehead against hers when she broke the kiss. “I love you, Tammy Parks. I knew the day you were born you were my mate. It was torture to love you from afar, but no more. Now I can love you each and every day without having to hide how I feel.”
Tammy squeezed him and sighed against lips before kissing him again. She unhooked her arms from around him and turned her gaze toward Phelan.
Phelan held his arms out in invitation and Tammy didn’t disappoint. She crawled into Phelan’s lap, straddling his hips and looped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Phelan Redmond. Now and forever.”
“Now and forever, baby.” Phelan slanted his mouth over Tammy’s kissing her rapaciously.
Hopper adjusted his hard cock as he smiled happily. This was what he’d been waiting for.
When Tammy wouldn’t give them the time of day, he’d thought they’d lost her for good, but now that everything was out on the table there would be no more mind games. The three of them had a long happy life to look forward to and he hoped that she would agree to marry them when the time was right to pop the question. For now, he was just happy that the avoidance game was over.
Chapter Fourteen
Tammy rushed up the steps leading to her brother’s house. The door opened before she could knock and the second she stepped over the threshold and spotted Celeste sitting on the sofa, she changed direction, completely ignoring her brother who was standing near the door.
“Celeste!”
“Hi, Tammy,” Celeste said a little feebly.
“I just wanted to apologize for leaving last night. I’m so happy for you, Tarik, and Hodge. I can’t wait to be an aunt.” Tammy paused to take a breath as she studied Celeste’s pale face. “Are you okay?”
“Morning sickness.”
“Already?”
Celeste nodded. “Must be all those animal pheromones.” She frowned before glancing at Tarek as he closed the front door and then met Tammy’s gaze again. “How long will I gestate for?”
