Oh, they’d touched, caressed, and kissed her continuously since returning home. As if they couldn’t help but make contact with her, for fear she’d disappear. But they had not once made love.
When Emily had broached the subject after a week in their house, Gabriel and Noah were quick to tell her that they still wanted her, but that they were determined she heal more before they reopened that door. And though she was tempted to push for more physical contact, Emily knew they were right. She still hurt, inside and out, and she’d needed the time they’d given her to grow stronger. Emotionally and physically.
But now that the stitches were gone and she could move her arm about a little more freely, Emily could not deny her heart or body another day. She turned her head and stared at Gabriel for a little while, then she did the same to Noah, trying to decide the best way to wake them and bring them into her body.
Ever the vigilant guard, Noah somehow sensed her eyes on him. He woke and stared at her as a slow smile spread across his full lips. He reached out and cupped her face in his hand, letting his thumb make lazy shapes across her skin.
Emily turned onto her side and nuzzled into his hand, while she settled her own hands on his chest. She began to caress Noah’s sculpted body gently at first, just light touches that let him know she was there in the moment with him. But then she let her hands glide lower until they ran over his erection. This morning, Emily thought his cock was responding more to her touch than his body’s tendency to wake in such a condition.
Noah’s eyes narrowed as he sucked in a breath. Emily watched him as he did her, and she inched closer. She traced his left nipple with her tongue and then drew the tight nub into her mouth, suckling him lightly. He groaned and threaded his hands into her hair, holding her in place as she teased his nipple with her teeth and lips.
Emily felt the bed shift behind her and she knew without looking that Gabriel was awake now and watching them. She smiled as she moved her lips to Noah’s other nipple, giving it the same dedicated attention.
Gabriel’s hand stroked over her back and down to her buttocks. He began a slow massage of her firm flesh there, while her lips roamed over every inch of Noah’s broad chest. Noah finally had all the teasing he could take, and he pulled her head up to meet his so he could match his lips to hers. Now it was Emily’s turn to moan as he stole her breath away from the consuming kiss he instigated.
She was turned towards Gabriel by four hands when Noah lifted his head, and she found herself claimed again in a passionate, searing kiss that had her toes curling against Gabe’s muscular legs. Noah’s hands skated over her skin and down to her intimate flesh while Gabriel’s lips slanted over Emily’s again and again.
“Don’t tell me no this morning. Please,” she whispered when he lifted his head away from hers.
“I couldn’t stop this morning if I tried, Em,” Gabriel confessed.
“Neither could I,” Noah agreed and placed a kiss on her shoulder as he spooned behind her. “Do you want us separately or together, baby?”
“I need us together this time. It’s been weeks, and I need you both. So much,” she added and almost whimpered with relief.
“We need you too, honey.” Gabriel nodded against his pillow. “Stay like this, so you aren’t putting any weight on your left shoulder. It still needs special care for a little while longer.”
“Okay,” Emily breathed and turned her head to kiss Noah. He happily rose up and met her halfway, so she didn’t have to strain.
With deft and loving strokes, they petted, caressed, and kissed her, and she them, until all three were aching and panting. Their mouths kept her cries shielded from the rest of the household as she came again and again under their skillful hands and lips. And just when Emily thought she couldn’t come again, Gabriel slid into her pussy and Noah gently worked his way into her core.
Their groans and sighs mingled as they began to move in perfect rhythm with one another, in a cadence as old as time itself. Through it all, Gabriel and Noah were so very gentle and mindful of every place on her body which had sustained injury. Yet they masterfully commanded her body in ways Emily had never dreamed it could be, and she gave herself over entirely to their care.
She surrendered her heart, mind, body, and soul to the two men who would always love and cherish her gift, never abuse it or take it for granted.
When Emily felt the first fluttering of her orgasm, the one guaranteed to turn her body inside out, she stared into Gabriel’s blue eyes and whispered that she loved him. Then she told Noah she loved him just that much, and felt his own release upon him as his thrusts sped up. Gabriel urged her to come for them, and she did.
Emily soared there between her two men, though she never left their arms or the warmth of their bed. She was free, in every way a soul could be, and she was complete. When they poured their seed into her body and gave in to the bliss she was experiencing, Emily felt herself come yet again. As she lay sated in their warm hold, basking in the glow, she was truly whole and happy.
She giggled and kissed Gabriel’s damp chest, loving the salty taste of his skin after they’d made love. He tucked his fingers under her chin and redirected her eyes back to his. His own smile mirrored hers.
“Happy, Em?” Gabriel asked, reading her mind as he always did.
“More than I ever dreamed I could be,” she sighed.
Emily felt both men’s chests rumble from their laughter, and the vibrations made her shiver.
“Let’s wake up this way every day,” she encouraged them.
“I like the way you think, baby.” Noah grinned and lightly nipped her shoulder.
“Me too,” Gabriel agreed. He kissed Emily again and smoothed her golden hair back from her face.
“And I need to do something else for me, and for us, too. Something I’d like you to do with me, if you feel so led,” she said softly.
“What, Em? What do you need?” Noah asked. He propped his chin on her shoulder and let the side of his face rest alongside hers, needing to be closer to her. Though his cock was still lodged firmly in her ass, and he knew he couldn’t get any closer than he already was.
“I think I’m ready to see the counselor Hollington recommended. Enough time has passed now, and I think it might help if we all saw her together. You were there in the thick of things with me throughout the night I was taken, and I believe it would help us heal, if we talk about it more than we have. Someplace where it’s safe and we can get it all out.”
“I think that’s a very good idea,” Gabriel agreed without hesitation.
“So do I,” murmured Noah. “We’ve all had nightmares, because we came so close to losing it all. Never want to feel that again, Emily. Never, baby.”
“I know,” she said softly. “So you both agree this is something we can do together?”
“We’re getting married, Emily. We’re going to do everything together.” Gabriel smiled tenderly and winked, hoping to reassure her that her request was a step in the right direction for them all.
“And as to that, when will you put me and Gabe out of our misery and say vows with us?” Noah asked. His hand snaked around her body and he began to lightly caress her stomach. But his touch made both Emily and Gabriel flinch.
“Damn, Noah,” Gabriel grumbled, not used to being tickled unawares by his friend just yet. “A little warning next time.”
Emily couldn’t help but laugh over the look on Gabriel’s face. He narrowed his eyes at her and she felt his cock twitch deep within her pussy. Noah echoed her laughter, not put out by Gabriel’s disgruntled bluster in the slightest. She felt his cock stir within her ass as well, and she knew their passion was about to be rekindled.
“So, you didn’t answer my question,” Noah breathed against her ear as he began to slowly glide in and out of her body again. “Is our wedding date anytime soon?”
Gabriel’s sensuous pace came to life once more on the heels of Noah’s movements, and soon she was clinging to him as they took her b
ack to the highest peak.
“Em?” Noah said, his tone one of warning now. He surged into her body a little more powerfully than before and she gasped. “When, baby?”
“Answer him, Emily,” Gabriel said firmly and pushed up into the tight clasp of her pussy. “We’re not patient men. You know that.”
“I do,” she smiled and let her head fall back against Noah’s shoulder. Noah’s hand slid up her abdomen until it collided with her breast. He pinched her nipple and she groaned. “Soon, I promise,” Emily panted.
“Soon, is too vague,” Noah protested. “Don’t make us wait too long.”
“I won’t. I just need a little more time to heal. Inside,” she broke off and fused her lips to Gabriel’s as she began to come again, desperate for their friends not to hear them.
Mollified by her answer, Noah and Gabriel gave over to their own release. They came into the warmth of her body a second time and tried to reclaim their breath with her still in their arms. No one wanted to move away, so they remained just as they were, talking softly and caressing, until the smell of breakfast cooking down the hall called them from the warmth of the bed.
CHAPTER 41
Emily rode into the kitchen on Noah’s back and playfully nipped at his neck, trying to distract him. She loved the way he shivered under her tender assault, his muscles tensing up as he tried to walk in a straight line and not bump into the wall. When she chuckled, he growled softly at her, but Emily only answered him with a light lick to the shell of his ear.
“That’s it!” Noah huffed and turned around, headed back to the bedroom.
Gabriel watched them go and shook his head. If anything, he was humored by their inability to refrain from giving in to the incredible passion both men felt for Emily, not jealous in the slightest. He knew firsthand what his best friend was feeling, for Gabriel did too, every time he merely looked at Emily. If he had his druthers, he’d keep Emily naked in bed with him twenty-four-seven and say to hell with the rest of the world.
When he entered the kitchen he saw his teammates and Tara all accounted for, and smelled something delicious cooking in the oven. Gabriel headed for the coffee machine, smiling at Lawton and Garrett who were seated side by side at the island, pouring over a newspaper article together. Once he had his mug in hand, Gabriel leaned across the granite surface opposite them and arched an eyebrow in question.
“Where’s Emily?” Lawton asked.
“With Noah,” Gabriel replied. He took a sip of his coffee and nodded his head in the direction of the paper. “Anything of interest?”
“Yeah. Unfortunately,” Garrett sighed and pursed his lips.
“Tell me,” Gabriel prompted them.
“It would seem that Eric has made the front page of your local rag, yet again,” Lawton supplied. “They’re featuring a bio of his early years in the community and analyzing all the ways in which his life went so far off the rails. Becca’s too, now that she’s been arrested as an accomplice. But in one part of the article, they’ve quoted none other than Miss Heather as saying she always knew Eric would seek Emily out, because she was all he ever talked about.”
“Lies. All of it,” Gabriel grumbled in disgust. “Throw that trash out. I don’t want Em to see it. She had a breakthrough this morning, and this isn’t what she needs to see right now. It won’t help a thing.”
“A breakthrough?” Tara asked. She leaned against the counter next to Gabriel and angled her head at him.
“Yes,” he smiled and bumped Tara’s shoulder with his own. “She finally asked to see a counselor. For us to see one,” he amended, “so the three of us could really start to heal and move forward.”
“Well, hallelujah!” Tara sighed. “Gabriel, you know I’m stubborn. And though Emily might seem mild mannered and far easier to get along with than me, once she digs in, she’s more tenacious than a pit bull. Makes me pale in comparison. You and Noah don’t go easy on her. Make her talk it all through. Hell, bully her if you have to, but don’t let her keep it all locked up inside.”
Gabriel smirked at her and Tara looked around to see every other man in the room staring at her with thinly veiled amusement. She pressed her lips together and cast a sarcastic glare of her own at Lawton.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked. Lawton leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“Because you happen to be right across from me. But you all need to hush. You know I’m right,” she huffed.
“Oh, you always are, Miss Tara,” Ross smiled.
“Be quiet, you. That charm doesn’t work on me.”
“Thank, God,” Braden mumbled, only to have Ross scowl at him.
Tara rolled her eyes at all of them and walked over to the oven to check the breakfast casseroles she was baking. “Gabriel, go get Emily and Noah. The food’s almost ready.”
Gabriel barked out his laughter and shook his head at her. “Not a chance in hell, Tara! They’ll eat whenever they’re ready. Just serve it up for the rest of us, if you don’t mind.”
Laughter sounded throughout the kitchen, both from Gabriel’s reluctance to get in the middle of something private and from Tara’s uncharacteristic blunder.
“Well, hell,” she muttered and turned away as her cheeks flamed a bright shade of pink.
Everyone had just taken their seat at the dining table, when Noah and Emily joined the gathering. She wrapped her arms around Gabriel’s neck and gave him a quick peck on the lips before she took the chair Noah was holding back for her between the two of them. After a blessing, they ate and the men started talking about when they might return to their respective homes before their next assignment from the Bureau began.
Emily listened to their dialog, but said nothing as she ate and occasionally glanced Tara’s way. She honestly did not want to be separated from Gabriel or Noah at present, and the thought of them leaving her for months, anytime in the near future, made her food churn furiously in her stomach. She quietly placed her fork to the side of her plate, all traces of her appetite gone.
She propped her elbows on the table and rested her lips against her fisted hands, determined not to ask such a thing of them. Their careers saved so many lives, and Emily knew she would never be the reason they didn’t fulfill their duty or calling. No, she would support them always, even if she currently felt too raw to watch them walk away from her.
Yes, she conceded, sleeping alone at night would be a challenge, and she was glad now that she’d told Noah and Gabriel that morning she needed to see a counselor. Perhaps this person could help her work her way through her fears, so normal day to day tasks didn’t seem quite so daunting.
“Emily, look at me, honey,” Gabriel whispered in her ear.
She did as he asked and turned her eyes his way. He frowned immediately, and she knew then that she hadn’t schooled her countenance as well as she’d hoped she had. Ignoring the others, he cupped her face with one hand and arched an eyebrow in question.
Emily opened her mouth to offer him a standard platitude. Something along the lines of I’m fine or it’s nothing. But Noah’s phone began to ring, and she was saved from having to utter a falsehood to Gabriel. She leaned away from him and turned to see a frown on Noah’s face now. He motioned for everyone to stop talking, and they did without further prompting.
“And they want to do this when?” Noah asked, not even trying to hide his anger with whomever he was talking to. “No, sir, I honestly don’t know. Let me talk with Emily and Gabe and we’ll call you right back. Okay.”
Noah placed his cell on the table and stared at it for a few moments while he gathered his composure and leashed his temper. Finally, he ran a hand through his hair in agitation and looked to Emily first and then on to Gabriel.
“That was Hollington. He’s here in Whitford Falls today to handle some business, but also to see about a request from Sheriff Strauss, it would seem. Apparently, Strauss, Jasper, and Andrew have asked that Hollington facilitate a brie
f meeting between them and Em. And us,” he added with a look of incredulity. “He says there’s no pressure to agree, and it’s completely our choice.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” Gabriel swore, his expression dark as he issued the swift denial.
“I vote yes,” Emily said calmly.
All eyes turned towards her and she nodded slowly, while she prayed for strength.
“Em, there is no reason in hell why they need access to you. What could agreeing to such a meeting accomplish?” Gabriel asked, with a shake of his head.
“I’m with Gabe here, Emily,” Noah chimed in. “This is asking too much, too soon. It’s not even been three weeks yet. No, baby.”
“Yes,” she said again. “And I won’t let you shut the door on me this time, without hearing me out.”
“That’s not what we’re trying to do here, Emily,” Gabriel said and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Not at all. We’re trying to protect you from harm, and seeing those men will most certainly do just that. Cause you emotional stress that you don’t need right now.”
“Okay,” she sighed, and they thought they’d won her over, convinced her to back off. But they were wrong. “Let me try this again. I vote we talk with them. I’m going to explain why, and you are both going to listen to me. Then, after I’ve said what’s on my mind and heart, we – meaning the three of us – can discuss this. Like adults,” she added firmly.
Garrett smothered a smile with his hand while he watched Gabriel’s chest rise and fall heavily as he drew in a steadying breath. Noah did the same before leaning closer to take Emily’s other hand in his. Tara had been right, Garrett thought. Emily could be stubborn as hell, too. She just had a certain finesse about the way she commanded the two, much larger men on either side of her.
Theirs To Claim (Predatory Desires Book 1) Page 40
