by J. L. Beck
A purple glow off the Vegas Strip paints their naked bodies, as if they’re my amethyst gems brought to life on the fur-covered, king-sized bed made to look even larger in the pure-white room. My breath catches and I drop the towel, letting it pool around my feet before I climb between them, settle against the heat of their bodies, and thread my legs with theirs. “You two never cease to surprise me.”
Both gaze at me with a seriousness I’m not used to witnessing as we’re all still processing the “what-ifs.” Eve’s drama is screwing up everything…or maybe it’s something deeper, as if their past has reanimated and is choking our HEA.
I place one palm on Cole’s cheek and the other on War’s, dragging them from their thoughts. “I don’t want either of you to let the guilt of your past keep you from embracing our future or talking to me about anything. So, no matter what you have to say, I’m ready. I know what I want, what I’ve always wanted, and that is both of you as my husbands.”
“If you knew our past, you’d have nothing to do with us,” says War, as if he’s just bitten into a sour lemon and it’s stuck partway down his throat.
“Eve isn’t the bomb, guys. She’s just the fuse to something that’s been on the verge of exploding for years. You know, maybe your father left you his inheritance as his way to say he’s sorry for everything he put you through with her. Maybe he saw his mistakes and wanted to earn your forgiveness. But first, you’ll both have to forgive yourselves if the three of us are to find our happy place.” I force a smile, kissing War because he’s raw emotion and Cole because he’s hiding his feelings behind his brawn. “Change is as difficult as switching out every light bulb to red that turns Vegas into a violet oasis. It can be done, but it’s hard to know where to start. Ya, know?”
War tosses his arm over his eyes, hiding his emotion, while Cole pulls me forward, kissing my hair.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to us. Don’t ever forget that, sugar,” Cole says, his words like a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae.
However, Eve's a worm eating away my belief I can be enough for my guys, but I don’t share my fears. Not tonight… I have to prove to the guys I can be more to them than Eve ever was, and I’m starting right now.
Chapter Six
Cole
I wanted to change Maddie’s world for the better, but here she is changing mine, even as the threat of my past soars above me like a vulture wanting to pluck my bright future straight from my heart. “Maddie, I regret not selling Dad’s place straight out—”
She lands her little finger on my lips and replaces her finger with a kiss.
Sweet like honey, delicate with the hint of chamomile from her tea, and her, I drink her down. She glides across the length of my body, her skin softer than these silk sheets I’m lying against, taking her place between me and War. I cup her cheek, now pink and warm from the bath, and I open to her eager kisses that I’m wanting to savor like this is the very first time. “Slow down, sugar,” I murmur, hoping this night will last forever when there’s no guarantee.
“Never slowing until I’ve had you in every way possible. I want you both, wanted this”—she peppers my lips with kisses—“all day...all night.”
She must usher Warren to scoot closer because I catch his hungry gaze out of the corner of my eye, and he brushes his ear against mine, and, like me, I assume he’s captivated by the power she has over us with a single command.
A chill blankets my lips when she pulls away to hover over War’s. But I watch her claim my twin’s mouth with tender kisses and gentle mews that turn to deep thrusts of their tongues and guttural pants as passion builds between them. I groan and fist my hard cock, pumping the shaft in long, slow strokes.
“That’s my job, Cole.” She slides her hand around me, upping my pleasure tenfold.
She loves us both, I realize, maybe not for the first time. But if there was doubt in me, that feeling is long gone. What if she finds out about Eve? No. I won’t let that happen. I ponder the steps needed to lock in my plan, even though she’s working my cock, as if my body is hers. Of course it’s hers. So I’ll make sure everything she’s ever wanted—marriage, babies, a happy home—is fulfilled. I have the power to make our union permanent. Money is no longer an issue.
“I’m gonna take care of you two forever.” She shimmies lower, taking Warren in her other hand as she strokes both our dicks, upping her rhythm until I’m thrusting into her palm and the talented mouth both War and I are struggling to claim. “Fuck, sugar, you're gonna make me come.”
She eases back, her lips resting on my sensitive tip. “That’s the idea.”
Down her throat, one inch at a time, my length disappears, and I’m getting lost in her heat, my impending orgasm clenching my balls. She releases me, and I’m missing her like fuck, but she takes my twin, his moans of pleasure filling the space. Only I demand more, and that fact rises from the grave where I buried my past with Eve…a complication I can no longer ignore.
Our sweet little Maddie crawls to all fours, pushing her heart-shaped ass into the air and readying herself for me to take her sweet ass cherry as soon as she tugs me to take my place behind. “You know what I want, Cole: anything you want to give me. Take me now....”
Yup. Fuck, I know exactly what she wants and why I promised myself I wouldn’t do anal with her, with anyone else, ever. I have to be in control, but with Maddie sweet as she is? She’s the one with all the power, and she doesn’t even know it.
My legs shake, and I’m tempted to throw her onto her back and shove my hard length into that juicy pussy. But how can I deny Maddie when she’s proclaiming she’s ready for anything, and I’m thinking she’s had enough pain for one night. Enough intrusion, and I don’t want to be that man to hurt her, ever.
Okay, that’s a fucking lie. I want to tie her stretched hands, place them above her head, roll her flat on her belly, ass up, blindfolded. Or better tied to a ring that hangs from the ceiling and wrap her body in knotted silk.
“Cole, I love when you’re so hard....”
“Make me last, sugar…” Temptation to do with her whatever the fuck I want wanes.
Eve’s presence tonight has my sordid past rushing to the forefront of my mind and stirs inside me all kinds of thoughts about how Eve taught me pain and pleasure and sex are a grand threesome when done right. Fucked as hell when things go wrong…
Don’t go there. I have no desire to ever again see or be with Eve in any capacity, and neither does my twin. But the thrill of plunging my hard length into Maddie’s tight ass shoots blood to my tip until my cock throbs with pain.
“Do it, Cole. Possess the only place you’ve never claimed.”
She’s right. I want to fuck Maddie’s sweet, tight, virgin hole. I want to watch my cock get lost inside her forbidden cave until I explode as she’s screaming my name from the Big O I’m giving her. Fuck, yeah. “You’re too good for me, sugar,” I whisper.
Maddie takes War into her mouth, and the sound of her slurping on his shaft echoes in the huge room that’s too white, too open with that panoramic window I want to throw a big, black tarp over to cover how exposed I’m feeling, even though I’m strumming her clit, and she’s singing her pleasure, as if I’m her everything.
War’s playing it safe, and by the look on his face—eyes rolled back, lips parted—he’s not thinking about Eve at all, which is good, and obviously where I need to be right now. I should be focused on Maddie and not the woman who ruined me and War’s chance of ever having a relationship with our father. The need to trade places with him swarms me, but I grip Maddie’s ass, knowing if I don’t shake hands with forgiveness, I’ll be stuck resisting what I need: the urge to dominate.
Maddie tosses a glance over her shoulder, reaches between her legs, takes me in her tender hand, and guides me into her silky core. “Make me scream.”
I roll my eyes to the back of my head, bury my cock into her slick, tight, welcoming pussy and lose myself because being with Ma
ddie feels like the first time. Every. Fucking. Time. I never want to screw that up, and yet, maybe I already have. Doubt flutters deep inside my belly, but I fight it off, too afraid of giving into it.
I’m holding her cheeks, and the scoop of her ass fits perfectly against me. I slide up my hands to clasp her shoulders that strain under my weight. I should lean back a bit to take some of my weight off her, but she’s rocking her hips into me, meeting my demands, taking my length and girth and what I’m giving her. “Sugar, I’m gonna make you come so hard you’ll never want to leave this bed.”
“Fuck, you’re beautiful, babe…” War tips back his head and threads his hands in her hair, guiding her mouth over his cock as she takes all of him. “That’s it, babe. Suck me, harder, deeper. You’re perfect, so fucking amazin’.” Sweat slicked, a satisfied smirk climbs War’s face.
Maddie quickens her pace, her mewls filling the room and tempting me to take what she’s offering. Her ass delights me, as if it’s a button waiting to be pushed so I can collect another O of hers, of mine, and send us both over the plunging cliff.
“Take me, Cole.” She whimpers.
“Sugar…” Sure, I’ve tongued her there, but she wants more. Fingers, my rockin’ cock. Then what? I swallow hard, careful what I’m wishing for—someone to submit to me—when she’s only growing stronger...more like...
She moans around War’s shaft. She’s close, so close, the flush of her cheeks burn crimson. She doesn’t have to speak because I know her, know what her body craves, what she’s needing, what I’m scared of giving her because once I cross that line, there’s no turning back for me, as I’ll demand anal from her every time. But what if that which I’m craving she is too? Like Eve. No, no. Not Eve. I can’t shake the thoughts running rampant in my mind.
Maddie’s a strong woman who knows what she wants. We’ll barter on the topic, I decide, then as I slip my thumb into my mouth, juicing the digit, palm her hip, knowing she’s ripe for my taking… And I sink home.
“Yes,” Maddie cries out. Her pussy clenches my cock as she goes rigid, her toes curling.
“That’s it. Fuck my thumb in your sweet ass, sugar. Fuck it good and hard.” I’m grinning, so pleased with myself that I can make her feel so good. But she’ll want more; she’ll want all of me. I almost shake my head as a singular question circulates through my mind: Why the fuck am I so hung up on claiming her or her me, as long as we're loving each other? Except I already know the answer. I don’t think her name. Can’t risk saying it out loud.
Wish it away…. It lingers.
“I love you, Cole.”
Fuck me. “Love you, too, Maddie.” My O barrels home, as soon as the words roll out of my parted lips. Because I do love her. Maddie is the woman who taught me what love means—love without betrayal. All I have to do is get the fuck out of my own way. Make her my wife now, work through the other shit later.
“Yes, yes!” She rocks, finding her rhythm that locks the three of us together, as if she’s a rope and Warren and I are working her body back and forth—a game of tug-o-war.
Balls clenched to the base of my shaft, cum rockets out the tip of my cock, filling her channel until I’m curled across her back, lungs pumping, and dazed to the fact War’s stretched out beside me. I’m exhausted, mentally and physically.
We settle into a heap of sweat and heated breaths and ecstasy so all-consuming I’m blinded by the sun that is our bride-to-be. And wouldn't you know that our sweet little Maddie’s wearing the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen as I fade off to sleep…as we all do.
Chapter Seven
War
I crack open my sleep-laden eyes and catch a dim shadow as it darts across the far wall. My heart slams into my throat, but I resist the temptation to feed the rising fear. It was a mirage and as solid as the fact that I’m sleeping beside my fiancé and Cole. Nothing more.
I stroke Maddie’s head, plant a kiss on her silky locks, and ease back so I don’t disturb her or my twin. Foreign scents mix with those I treasure and tease my angst over Eve’s demands. I fucking hate her, or at least what she represents. A selfish, entitled bitch. Demanding in her own way and forever trying to ruin what has always been ours. Eve’s wants our fortune. Us. I want peace, and that’s what she stole from me tonight. Again. And I’m sure Eve will interrupt us over and over until she gets what she wants from us.
But I need a plan. Something Eve won’t guess. I won’t let Eve ruin what I have or harm my family. I’m breathing too fast, shivering more than I should be, even though I’m surrounded by blankets and those I love. Because Eve’s still covetous, still as cunning, a cougar stealthily hunting her prey and just as deadly to the happiness I’m building. Hell if I’ll let her have control over my life. I shake away the thought of her controlling me before it has time to sink in.
I roll off the bed, pull up my shorts, and head to the window, feeling the heat rolling off Cole’s body before he brushes against my arm. “Couldn’t sleep either?” I glance at my twin.
He shakes his head, bangs falling loose on his forehead, and he’s wearing nothing but a towel. “Heard a creak in the hallway... Must be the wind though...”
I glance at the vacant wall. “Eve’s not here, or we’d know. Police are on site. Arnold. In a few hours, this place will be a construction zone, and Eve wouldn’t dare trespass, so we can finally check out the house, let our guards down, and chill.”
“You’re right,” Cole says, adding a nudge.
For a moment, we stare at the wide-open, rolling hills beyond the terrace and golf course cast pink by the pending sunrise, sharing nothing but our thoughts. That’s when I catch my reflection. To have a future, I have to believe in one, even without our fortune… An idea surfaces in my mind. “For Maddie, I don’t want to lose this, ever. But to make Eve go away permanently, it’s gonna cost us everything.”
Cole jerks his head toward me, meeting my gaze with a baffled stare. “Shit, you’re not thinking—”
“Offing Eve? Many times, bro, for what she did to us, keeping us away from our father and convincing him we were his enemies. But I’m not one to cross that line.” I lean in, glancing over my shoulder toward Maddie to make sure she’s sleeping. “We need to make our trio permanent.”
“And we will, soon as we’ve renovated this sterile mansion with our rustic touches—”
“No. I’m talking Saturday,” I deadpan, hoping like hell Cole will agree with me.
“Elope in two days. Fuck, are you crazy? Besides, her mom will disown us for a fact if we pull that shit,” Cole says, his words punctuated like nails in a coffin.
“Hear me out. I know Maddie’s slow burn about this wedding planning and wants her fingers in every detail. If we go at her leisurely stride, we’ll be sprouting gray hairs before we’re married. We have a CD ready to be cashed out from the interest I’ve hid for a rainy day. Looks like it’s pouring. So we arrange for Maddie to work exclusively with Extreme Wedding consultants.”
“That shit’s going to cost us half-a-mil?” Cole rights his towel hanging low on his hips.
I choke on my spit and the price tag hanging off a wedding like that, knowing Maddie’s more like me than Cole and focused on doing shit herself. But what the hell do we know about weddings? “We may be over our heads with this shit, and our inheritance isn’t confetti. But Dad found something in us, in him that inspired him to want us to be happy.”
“We could host the wedding here. Hell, I’m sounding like you tracking pennies.” Cole huffs. “With all the construction taking place this week to increase security, plus what the interior designers are doing to the house, Maddie won’t have a clue we’re doing this for her.”
“It might work. I say we fly in her mom today. Send them both off to shop.” Warmth replaces the chill inside that quickly returns. “After last night, I don’t think Maddie will fight us on moving up the wedding, even if she finds out. But there’s more. A rushed wedding won’t get rid of Eve. So I’m proposing one he
ll of a wedding present.”
Awareness widens Cole’s eyes, and he glances at Maddie, her chest rising and falling with each gentle breath. “‘Cost us everything....’ We need to make some calls. Fast.”
For the first time since touching ground in Las Vegas, a smile crimps my cheeks. “It’ll be our surprise to Maddie. She’ll love it. Then Eve won’t want us broke bastards any longer, and we’ll all be free.”
“War? Cole?”
Maddie’s sweet voice summons Cole and me, and we pad back to the bed, slipping in beside her. We don’t mention our secret plans that will be set in motion come morning, but even as I lie beside her after I text her mom, I focus on the wall where I still picture Eve’s silhouette standing over me: the ten-year-old child, the twenty-one-year-old, the now thirty-five-year-old man still scared the monster will destroy everything if she gets the chance, and I’ll once again lose everything I love.
