by Jo Raven
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
God, what is it with these guys? Why do they all have to be so strong and sexy—and on top of it all, sleep half-naked? So not fair. It’s as if they do it only to tempt me.
“Kash,” West says, unfolding his long frame from the sofa and turns toward the door.
“What do you mean?” I turn to look.
The door’s open. It creaks, swinging wider, and I see Kash, on his knees on the floor, hunched over.
Shit.
Nate’s already rushing over to him, sinking to his knees beside him, dropping a hand on his back. “Man, Kash, what’s wrong?”
His gasping breaths are overly loud in my ears as I hurry across the room, West by my side.
Dropping on the floor, the impact traveling through my knees distant, I rub a tentative hand up and down Kash’s back. “Are you okay?”
“Close… the door,” he pants, looking up at me, his eyes wide, his mouth white. “Lock up.”
“What the hell, man?” West exchanges a questioning look with me, but moves around us and closes the door, sliding the lock into place. “Done. Now, what scared the bejesus out of you?”
“Someone… was following me.” He’s still gasping for air.
“What?” Nate’s gaze narrows. “Who? And why?”
Kash fumbles at his back pocket. A pouch falls on the floor. His tobacco pouch, where he keeps the weed he often smokes.
“Panic attack,” I whisper.
“Shit,” Nate hisses.
“Kash.” West crouches down right in front of him. “Look at me. Just breathe. Focus on that.”
Nate raises a brow. “What do you know about panic attacks?”
“Oh fuck you, Nate. You thought I wouldn’t research it when I found out you had them?” He turns his attention back to Kash, a frown on his face. “Moving could help, or so I read.”
“Let’s get him up,” I say, “let’s walk around. Come on.”
“Let me,” West says, and I cede my place next to Kash so West can wedge a muscular shoulder under his arm. “Come on, dude.”
“Need… to smoke.”
“Okay. Let’s go to the balcony then.” West heaves him up with Nate taking the other side. “Lead the way, Syd.”
I hurry ahead to clear the way and open the balcony doors, in a bit of a shock that West has taken charge. Since his family died, he’s been in a sort of a fugue, unfocused and distant most of the time, lost in his own mind.
Kash’s distress has snapped him out of it.
I look at them as they step outside, into the cool night air, the three of them. Tall, broad-shouldered, two dark heads and one blond, bent together as they navigate the empty plant pot in the corner and prop Kash against the rail.
Nate offers him the tobacco pouch, but strangely Kash doesn’t reach for it. He’s leaning back against the rail, his hair faintly glowing, his elfin face pale. Nate and West are steadying him with their hands on his shoulders.
“Red,” he rasps, his breaths still so quick and shallow it’s a miracle he’s standing upright. He opens his arms just a little, just enough to make it an invitation.
Or a plea.
With a sigh of relief, I walk into his embrace, wrap my arms around him. “Tell me what you need.” I don’t know what he’s asking for, but I’d give him anything.
“You.” His voice is so broken it slices through me like a shard as he draws me flush against him, against his pounding heart. And then, he says, “And Nate.” Another shallow breath. “And West.”
They don’t hesitate for one second. Their arms come around both of us, surrounding us, enclosing us in a circle of protection.
“Whatever you need,” Nate says.
West tightens his hold, dips his head forward, his soft hair brushing my forehead. “We’re here.”
It makes me want to kiss them all, laugh and cry at once. And maybe I’m the one who starts it, I’m not even sure, not sure where I end and they begin, but we kiss.
I kiss Kash on his salty mouth that’s also sweet and bitter with fear, and then I turn my head and I’m kissing West. And finally Nate.
He draws back with a small curse, but doesn’t move away. His fingers slide in Kash’s hair, and then West is nuzzling my neck, and Kash is leaning into West, and we are a tangle of bodies, somehow still standing.
“Bed,” someone whispers, and I realize it’s me. “Let’s go to bed.”
It’s all kind of a blur. We don’t let go of each other as we lurch back inside. We’re holding hands, West has his arm slung over Kash’s shoulders, Nate has his arm around my waist, Kash is still leaning into West, his steps unsteady.
We end up in Nate’s bed, just because it’s the first bedroom we find. We stagger inside and fall on top of his bed. West turns on the nightstand light.
I don’t know what we’re doing. I doubt the boys do, either. They all look dazed, touching and tugging on clothes, Nate and West rolling me and Kash in the middle, keeping that protective circle from before. They kiss me, kiss my arms, my bared belly, my legs, my face, my mouth when they can reach it, like I’m their axis and they move around me.
“West.” His mouth captures mine, and then he rolls me so he can mold his body against my back.
That rolls me against Kash’s front. He’s spooned by Nate who’s actually up on one elbow, looking down at us, his eyes dark with desire.
“Kiss him,” he commands me. “Kash, kiss her, dude.”
“So bossy, man.” Pushing pale hair out of his eyes, Kash huffs something that may be laughter, but his eyes are warm, the emptiness and panic that filled him before gone. “I can barely… breathe. Fuck.”
I lift my hand to his face, tracing the sharp line of his jaw, touch the coolness of the hoop in his nose. His full lips that are slightly parted as he draws uneven breaths. The fear is gone but his body is still struggling with it.
“Kiss him,” West murmurs from behind me, his breath warm on my neck. He brushes his mouth under my ear, and I shiver. “Breathe for him.”
“Are we talking… CPR?” Kash grins at me, and I swear, my heart flips over.
I press my mouth to his and he sighs, pale lashes dropping over his gray eyes. I feel the shape of his mouth, the fullness of his lips, dart my tongue out to taste him better, seeking that bitterness from earlier.
He groans and grips my chin, his tongue dancing against mine, then pushing between my lips, licking into my mouth—drawing a whimper from my throat. My body feels hot and taut, and my pussy clenches with desire. I press my body more fully to his, feeling his hard cock twitch in his pants, trapped between us.
“Holy fuck.” Nate is watching us, his gaze hot like fire, his bare sculpted chest gleaming like metal, a silver drop of sweat rolling down his abs and into his black boxer briefs. He reaches down, and I realize he’s hard, too, his cock tenting his underwear.
Oh God.
West pushes one hand under my blouse, resting it right under my boobs. “Touch him, girl. Nate isn’t the only one who wants to see.”
What’s happening? It’s as if they had this antagonism between them, Nate and West, but it doesn’t apply to Kash. In fact, Nate is dragging Kash’s T-shirt up, baring his chest for me to explore, gaze dipping down to it, and I swear I see a flare of need in his amber gaze.
Then Kash is kissing me harder, tongue flicking against mine, lighting me up inside. His hand slides to my neck, and West cups and strokes my breasts, thumbing the peaks of my nipples, and I’m lost in sensation. I’m so wet, so horny, I don’t know what to do to relieve the ache inside me.
Kash groans, and my eyes snap open when he breaks the kiss. I glance down and find that Nate has unbuttoned Kash’s jeans and pulled them down.
“Touch him,” Nate says again, his voice full of grit. “Don’t you wanna?”
What a question. I wrap my hand around Kash’s cock, and he throws his head back with a grunt, his hands falling to my shoulders. I stroke him, tugging and releasing, precum
leaking from the flushed head of his cock and easing my movements.
“Fuck, yeah, oh God.” Kash rocks into my grip and I’m vaguely aware of Nate pulling Kash’s pants all the way off, shoes and socks following.
Not sure what he’s doing, but I’m distracted because West tugs down my panties, rolls me on my back and buries his face between my legs.
I moan as he licks at me, slow, deep strokes. Then Kash is turning my face back toward him and is kissing me again. The pleasure is rising inside me so fast there’s no escape. I grab Kash’s face, moaning into the kiss as West continues to torture me with his tongue and lips. Nate has his cock out and is jacking off slowly, his gaze riveted on us, on me.
The orgasm slams into me, wrenching a cry from my throat. I’m breaking apart and West still licks at me, drawing out the aftershocks.
Kash releases my mouth, panting, the gray of his eyes almost entirely swallowed by black. “I want you,” he whispers. “Red, I need you.”
I can’t say no. I don’t want to say no. “Yes. Yes.”
West drags himself up my body and kisses me full on the mouth, letting me taste my release. “He needs you today more than we do. But we’re next.”
I look up into West’s pretty blue eyes, and for the first time in ages they seem happy.
“Hell,” Nate mutters, and I glance at him, not sure what I’ll see. I relax when I find desire blazing in his gaze. “What West said.”
But how, when he freaks out just by kissing me?
And wait a sec—what are they saying? Do they all want inside me, tonight? I’ve never had a cock inside me in my life, and tonight I’ll take three?
Before I can voice my doubts about that—all of that—Nate reaches over me and opens the box set on a rickety table by his bed. He pulls out a string of foils and drops them on the bed.
Condoms.
“Why do you have those?” West asks, and I frown at the dark undercurrent in his voice. “Why would you need them?”
Nate’s mouth twists in a grimace. “Can’t a guy hope, huh?”
“Is that the reason?” West asks more quietly. “Not that they’re leftovers from a past life?”
Nate goes pale. He sits back on the bed, letting his dark hair hide his eyes. “No, goddammit. They’re not.”
Before I fully understand what they’re talking about, Kash grabs the string of packages and tears one open, pulling a condom out.
“Help me with this?” He frowns down at his hard-on that’s curving pink and large toward his stomach.
I bite my lip, distracted from Nate’s imminent breakdown, and give the rolled-up latex a doubtful look. “You just… roll it on? I’ve never done this before. You?”
“You’re my first, Syd. In everything.”
It makes my heart beat faster.
Then Nate snags the condom from Kash’s hand. “Pay attention,” he mutters. “I won’t show you again. Let’s get you suited up.” He places the condom on the tip of Kash’s cock and rolls it down all the way to the base.
Kash gasps, his cock jumping. He glances up with round eyes.
Nate winks, a feral smile on his face, flashing that deep dimple.
Holy crap, these boys. I don’t know what these currents between them are doing—tension, heat, competition, affection. They’re winding around me, weaving like a net, and I’m already too aroused, too exposed and raw from having them around me, together, making everything seem possible.
I can’t hide how I feel. Never could, not with these boys.
“Syd,” Kash whispers, and shoves my blouse up and over my head. His mouth dips to my breasts. He tugs down the cups of my bra and licks my nipples. “Fuck, at last.”
His mouth on my breasts feels so good it’s short-circuiting my brain. The choice of words seems appropriate, I think, and suddenly my mind clears enough to let in nervousness and a tiny bit of panic.
I slip my fingers through his silvery hair and tug his face up to see his eyes and kiss his mouth, losing myself in his familiar taste.
“Do it,” I whisper against his lips, gasping when his weight settles between my legs, his heavy cock lying across my stomach, burning hot. “Do it.”
“Don’t be scared.” He licks at my lips. “You’ll see. I’ll make it good for you.”
Okay. It will be okay.
This is Kash. It’s not a stranger. It’s Kash, and he won’t hurt me. He said so.
He gazes into my eyes, and I’m drowning in silvery gray. Not breaking gaze, he reaches down and guides his cock to my entrance, pushes into me slowly and steadily, a controlled shove that takes my breath away.
It’s just… big, too big, and I struggle with it. It kind of hurts, and kind of feels good, and my body isn’t sure which way it’ll go.
Kash sits up a little, pushing deeper, his expression caught between tension and pleasure, eyes half-closing, brows arching, mouth falling open. He pulls out an inch, pushes back inside me. “Holy shit. You feel good.”
With that movement, the balance tips toward pleasure, and I suck in a sharp breath. “Oh…” He’s inside me, buried deep, and looking down, seeing where we’re joined, where the dip of my pussy accommodates his engorged, big dick…
So hot. And then he moves again, and my eyes all but roll inside my head with pleasure. I wrap my legs around his lean hips and reach for him, but Nate crawls beside me, West on my other side, distracting me yet again.
They’ve both shed their briefs, and are rock hard, their cocks straining toward me. My pussy clenches frantically at the sight, tightening around Kash’s hard-on.
He groans, rocks his hips, fucking me. He’s fucking me, and it feels perfect, heat pooling in my belly, pressure rising, seeking an outlet, a release.
Then West bends over me and kisses me hard on the mouth, his tongue fucking my mouth the way Kash’s cock is fucking my pussy. He’s jerking himself off as he tastes my mouth, grunting into my mouth with every movement of his hand.
Until Nate leans in to share my mouth. I turn my head toward him, slinging an arm around his neck as he kisses the hell out of me, groaning as he comes all over my breasts, hot jets of cum, West’s joining his a second later.
God. The pressure inside me is too much. I’m going to come again, I realize.
Kash bends over me, bracing his hands on either side of me, reclaiming my mouth as his thrusts grow faster, harder, and it tips me over the edge. I moan like a porn star as I come around his cock, and it’s different, so much stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.
It goes on and on, and when he shakes and moans low, shooting his load, scalding hot through the thin latex of the condom, I arch up, consumed with pleasure.
This is like a dream. I hope dawn won’t shatter it to pieces.
Chapter Thirty-Four
West
Despite curling up on a double bed with three more bodies wedged around and partly on top of me, I sleep like a baby.
Well, until sometime around dawn, when someone curses and knees me in the back.
Groaning, I rub my face and roll my head to see. “What the fuck?”
Kash is sitting up, blond hair sticking up in all directions, cheeks flushed and gray eyes big in his face.
He looks… cute.
Fuck this. Guys aren’t supposed to look cute, especially guys older than you, right? Though I’ve had doubts about this guy’s age since I first met him. He looks incredibly young in the early morning light. Then again it could be that blond mop of hair and barely-there stubble, the smooth, flushed cheekbones and soft mouth.
“Hey, babyface.” I glance around and find Nate lying on his back, Sydney curled at his side, one hand pressed to his chest. “Sleep well?”
“Call me that again and I’ll kick you in the nuts,” he grumbles.
“What. Babyface?”
His brows draw together, but then he snorts. “Oh fuck you. Jeez, I’m not used to you teasing.”
“Yeah, that’s Nate’s role, but he’s asleep, so I thought to ste
p in.”
“Right,” he mutters, extricating himself from the sheets and Sydney’s legs that are resting on top of his. I follow her shapely calves up to her thighs and round ass. One of her nipples peeks from under her arm. “He hasn’t exactly been a bunch of laughs these past months.”
No, I guess not. “He used to be happier,” I say quietly, tearing my gaze off Sydney with an effort.
And damn, I’m hard. I bend my knee to hide my hard-on. Common courtesy, right? To put a barrier between your hard dick and that of the guy next to you who just happens to be in the same bed as you. New territory to explore.
I wonder if he’s also hiding his morning wood from me, the way he’s turned slightly away from me.
“So did you,” he replies. “Used to be happier, I mean. I wanted to talk to you.”
“About last night? It’s cool.”
“Oh, right. Fuck. About last night, too.” He runs a hand through his wild hair. “Was it okay? Wait, you said it’s cool.”
I hide a grin. “Only if it didn’t make you think Syd’s only yours.”
He shakes his head. Glances at Syd and Nate. “She’s in love with you guys. I’ve known from the moment I met you.”
Something warm and bittersweet slips into my heart. “She sort of likes you, too, dude. If you hadn’t noticed.”
His cheeks are crimson now, and he ducks his head with a half-smile. Never pegged Kash for a shy guy. Is this shyness, or is he remembering last night?
“Anyway.” I’m sitting in bed naked, with two other naked guys and a naked girl, shooting the shit. What the hell, right? “Now that’s out of the way… Was someone really tailing you last night?”
“I dunno.” He tugs on the ring in his nose. The dark ink on his arms seems to move in the dim light. “Doesn’t matter.”
“You were fucking terrified, man.”
“I wasn’t.” He shoots me a faint sideways smile. “Okay, I was, but it’s not the first time I thought I saw someone, and it turned out that it was all in my mind. Damn paranoia.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
