Watching Bailey walk away after hearing her call him something in Spanish had Hart’s dick hard as stone. The word was probably something bad but that didn’t make it sound any less erotic.
The internal mantra he always had with himself when she was around started in his head. Sister. Sister. Sister.
This time, there were a few addendums he’d never let himself listen to before. Like a sister. Harley’s friend, not actually a relative. Bailey…hot, curvy Bailey. I fucking want her.
A waitress passed and he asked if she knew what amante meant.
“It means lover, senor. May I take your order?” He told her in a daze they’d be in the VIP lounge and she nodded. “I’ll be up to check on you shortly.”
Hart never did VIP because he hated looking entitled. Tonight, he was making a fucking exception. Something was different about Bailey and it was affecting him more strongly than anything else she’d ever done to catch his attention.
She didn’t realize she had always had his attention and he was so damn tired of fighting. The summer before she got breasts ended the last peaceful year of his life. Shaking his head, Hart walked toward the dance floor.
Lover, huh?
The women he always made himself refer to as girls were shaking their asses and a sizable crowd of men was forming to watch them. They danced salsa to a song he didn’t recognize but he loved the beat.
Bailey was born to dance and Harley had picked it up easily when they were kids. When they started attending high school dances at fourteen with Hart, Beck, and Dex…things had gotten difficult.
The three boys never took either of them as their actual dates. They took girls who put out. It never failed that an hour into the night, they all wished they’d chosen Harley and Bailey.
Unlike Hart and his friends, the girls never settled. Since they weren’t invited to go with the men they preferred, they went together. All night, they danced with everyone who asked but always returned to dance together. It had tortured the three friends to watch.
Tonight they danced together as they always had.
Hart noticed the pack was circling closer. Time to step in. They always used the three male friends as practice dummies when they wanted to learn a new dance. Hart had played that role most often.
They owed their dancing ability to those practice sessions when they were kids. Going through the movements repeatedly until they got it.
In college, Hart dated a girl from Brazil who expanded his arsenal. He idly wondered if Bailey would like his new skills. The song ended and they turned, saw him, and gravitated to his side. Guiding them upstairs, he watched as Harley stretched her leg out on the sofa and rubbed her hip.
“You okay, Harpy?”
“I might be overdoing it just a bit, Hartless. I’ll sit a couple out.” To Bailey, she said, “Don’t dance with that one guy who grabbed your ass on the way to the floor. He’s too pushy. The tall Latin guy with the white shirt looks safe, but I didn’t like the look of his friend.”
“Harley, what are you talking about?” Hart sounded grouchy to his own ears.
His sister shrugged. “Since we were kids, we’ve acted as lookout for one another; checking out who’s checking us out in the crowd. Bailey watched for me, I watched for her. It would determine what men we’d allow to dance with us if we chose to select partners other than each other. Women have to be careful, you know?”
Sighing loudly, he insisted, “I’ll dance with Bailey. God only knows what losers are out there.”
Bailey laughed loudly but it wasn’t a happy sound at all and Hart knew he’d hurt her feelings yet again. “I’m so flattered, Hart. Way to fall on your sword, bro.”
Fuck…that wasn’t how he’d meant it to sound.
She dropped into a seat next to Harley, so much more of her beautiful leg exposed than he should be expected to endure as a heterosexual male.
Leaning her head back on the couch, she closed her eyes and took Harley’s hand. Her voice was too quiet and he would have sworn she was fighting tears.
“Do you remember when they loved to dance with us, Harley? They knew we’d keep them from being utterly humiliated with whatever slut du jour they happened to be dating. We made them into the men they are today, you know that right?”
Harley smiled. “I remember the etiquette course we put them through. Opening doors, pulling out chairs, and so on. They grumbled the whole time. Man, do you know how many girls talked about them being such gentlemen? They got laid so much more because of us.”
The words affected Hart deeply because they were true.
“Ungrateful bastards,” Bailey said with a sad smile. Clearing her throat carefully, she told him cheerfully, “I’m happy to be the designated driver, Hart, if you want to drink. I have to stay sharp with all the wolves circling below.”
Hart settled carefully into a chair across from them and processed their unusual moods. A waitress came in to take their order. Harley ordered Sprite with lime, Bailey ordered an orange juice, and Hart ordered two shots of tequila.
They drank and listened to the music. The women talked for a while until the conversation returned to dancing.
Another round of drinks arrived.
“Are you sure you can’t hit the floor with me again?” His sister shook her head and said she needed a break. “I’m going out. Hart, hang with Harley. I’m not fourteen or unfamiliar with men. I can handle myself just fine.”
With that, she swirled from the room, her skirt flowing up and giving a fleeting glimpse of tiny gold lace panties.
“Bailey seems…strange tonight,” he said when the object of his desire was gone.
“Define strange, Hart. She seems normal to me. She wants you, you don’t want her, and so she’ll go find a substitute like she always does.”
“Bailey doesn’t date. I would have met a boyfriend in all this time.” Hart felt smug in his certainty.
His sister disabused him of it immediately.
“God, you’re naïve. She’ll find a replacement, force a relationship until the sound of the guy’s voice makes her want to puke, then she’ll dump him the way she dumps all of them. She prefers long distance relationships so she can avoid them. Two gorgeous, successful men have asked her to marry them. She broke up with them instantly.”
She stood carefully and moved to the large window overlooking the dance floor. Bailey was easy to spot. Dancing alone in a circle of men, she refused to let them dance with her.
“I think she might have spotted your lookalike. He’s cute.” Hart was beside her instantly. “See that really tall good looking guy? She’ll pick him. He has similar coloring and build to you.”
A moment later, she said cheerfully, “And…there she goes. The others are so disappointed. Not a bad dancer. Hope this one has a job. That guy will be her boyfriend for the next year. She’ll sleep with him when it fits her schedule, out of desperation.”
Harley glanced up at him with a serious expression. “My friend will settle again and again because you’re a fucking moron, Hart.”
His eyes went wide and suddenly everything seemed to click into place. The jumbled pieces he’d never understood how to put together were right where they were supposed to be.
With a slow smile, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I love you, you know that, Harpy?”
“I do know that. I’m going to head home. I really am exhausted. I’m staying at the guys’ place tonight. I promised I’d water their plants.”
“Harley, they don’t have plants.” He signaled the waitress and paid their tab, adding a hefty tip.
“Then I’ll buy some fucking plants. I’ll have the bouncer grab me a cab so don’t worry. I love you. Go make my friend happy and don’t be stupid anymore. I can assure you she doesn’t see you as a brother. I want to gag when she talks about licking and kissing you…gross.” Hart’s gasp made her laugh. “She’s smokin’ hot which you’ve noticed for more than a decade.”
“We totally underestimated
the two of you.”
“You took us for granted. None of you realized we encouraged you in qualities we found attractive, skills we wanted you specifically to know. We invested a lot of time in your grooming, fashion, and manners to watch you use what we taught you on women who weren’t worthy.”
He grimaced and turned to head downstairs.
“Hartman…she’s loved you a long time. Do not hurt her. That would upset me.” He nodded and was gone.
Harley turned to watch the dance floor. After half an hour, she was convinced things were moving along nicely and left the club.
The bouncer hailed her a cab and it took her to Hart’s house. She grabbed the bag she’d packed earlier and got back in the cab. Using the spare key, she let herself in and disengaged the alarm.
In the guest room, she showered and changed before climbing between cool sheets and drifting almost instantly to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
Harley woke to the loveliest sensation a few hours after falling asleep. Opening her eyes, she saw the top of Beck’s head over one breast, the top of Dex’s head over the other.
“You’re back early! I missed you.” They raised their heads to look at her. “You’re gorgeous.”
Beck chuckled. “No, Harley…gorgeous is what I found when I got here first. You in the guest room dressed like this. I went hard instantly and texted Dex a picture to hurry him the fuck up.”
“Harley, when I got his message and knew you were in the house waiting for us, I broke every speed limit to get here from the airport. Beck was pacing the front room when I walked in.” Dex stroked her inner thigh. “Why are you in the guest room?”
“I’m not roaming around and invading your space.”
Beck’s face went serious. “First of all, this is your home now, too. Second, you have your own room between ours. That way you can have space when you can’t be bothered by the two of us pawing and ogling you. Time for a tour.”
He scooped her up and carried her to the other side of the house.
“Our bedrooms are completely separated from the living space and the other guest rooms. They’re in their own wing for absolute privacy. This is Dex’s room…down further is mine. You’re welcome to go anywhere, sleep anywhere, because this is your home.”
Walking in front of them, Dex opened a door. Beck stepped through it and put her on her feet as the dark-haired man closed it behind them.
Dex’s excitement to show her the space was palpable. “We had furniture delivered yesterday. Lexie’s room is in the other wing next to a room we had redecorated for Cathy. It’s just down the hall but far enough away, if you understand.”
Harley smiled. “Good thinking.”
“We had this room sound proofed after the day we spent with you so you don’t have to worry. There are closets on both sides, entry doors are there to our bedrooms so no one sees you in the hallway. The carpenter that cut them thought this was going to be a rec room.”
Pointing, Beck told her, “That door leads to a huge bathroom. This one leads to a sitting room and a private garden. You can go from the garden to the pool through a hidden door in the high wall.”
Harley looked around at the room they’d designed for her. Done in pale apricot, her favorite color, the dark wood of the heavy antique bedroom set stood out beautifully.
The bed was custom-made, almost bigger than a California king. Harley grinned. When men were six and a half feet tall, regular beds didn’t always work. It was set high with four posters engraved with vines and lilies. Raw silk panels in a darker shade of apricot adorned the corners. There was a heavy matching bench at the foot.
It was the most stunning space she’d ever seen.
She turned to hug them both. “Thank you. I can’t believe you did this.”
Harley entered the closet on one side and opened the door to Dex’s room, done in clean lines and masculine greens. Walking to the opposite side, she looked into Beck’s room done in a similar style done with deep blues.
The bathroom carried the same color scheme as her bedroom in a darker apricot. There was a huge tub in one corner with a tinted plate glass window facing the desert. There was a walk-in shower.
She went through her comfortable sitting room and out to the little garden. It was impossible not to love the semi-covered space boasting flowering plants and padded chaise lounges with small tiled tables set between.
Stepping back into her own space, she was floored. “You don’t have to have us living here, you know. I love you…but I don’t need to invade your space like this. You’re doing too much.”
Their eyes strolled down the length of her body and she let them look their fill. She wore a soft white tank top and matching low-cut boy shorts. How much they loved the simple outfit was obvious. Her curly hair was loose and wild from sleep.
They came to her, tugging her to the padded bench at the end of the bed. She sat gracefully and the men – her men – crouched in front of her. Her hands reached out to touch their faces, smiling as they closed their eyes and leaned into her palms.
Dex spoke first. “Harley, we know you won’t marry one of us. It breaks my heart that you can’t have that because you deserve all the frills of a wedding and the security of our last names. I’m sorry this situation doesn’t leave room for the most important thing we want to give you.”
His fingers stroked through her hair. “We can love you just as strongly, and there are legal ways to protect you, Lexie, and know you’re both always safe. We can have you with us, live normally inside this home, and love you as our wife. We can still be husbands and fathers. That we can do. Accept what you mean to us and let us show you how much we love you.”
Beck took her hand. “You aren’t another conquest or experience to us, Harley. You’re our last conquest, the treasure at the end of a very long, very difficult journey. You are the only woman who has ever held our hearts. You treated them gently, though we didn’t do the same with yours. We can’t change the past, but we can make it up to you every day of our future.”
He pulled a box from his jeans and handed it to her on the flat of his palm.
Harley opened the box and saw a platinum ring with inset diamonds with an emerald-cut diamond in the center. Taking it out, she examined it closely and realized it was actually three thin bands that locked together. Each ring held two words of an inscription.
What Once Was Apart Now Together
“Maybe not on paper, Harley, but in our hearts and in our home, we need you to be our wife. To love us and let us love you, finally, at long last, as it was meant to be.” Dex took the interlocking ring from her and slid it on the ring finger of her left hand.
She nodded and took turns kissing them deeply.
They stood and took her with them. Dex undressed beside her as Beck pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she was dizzy while his hands roamed her back and ass.
Dex, now undressed, turned her to him, and claimed her mouth as he stroked over her breasts and stomach, slipping down to caress her mound while Beck made quick work of undressing himself.
When both men were naked, they each took a knee and focused their attention on her. Dex’s hands slowly slid the tank top up her torso and over her head until she stood with her breasts bare. He worshipped her nipples.
“You smell like honey and vanilla, Harley. You taste like honey.” Dex spoke roughly, his need clear as he licked over her breasts hungrily.
Beck slipped her panties over her hips and down her legs, planting soft kisses along her hip. He licked her skin and groaned in agreement.
She told them breathlessly, “Honey dust. I have no idea if it’ll get sticky when it’s wet but it felt lovely putting it on.”
They regained their feet, standing powerfully in front of her. Beck’s voice was low. “You covered your body in honey dust?” She nodded. “You know how much we love honey…remember that bee farm near our neighborhood when we were kids?”
She smiled. “I thought you’d
appreciate it.”
“Harley, we need to be careful.” Dex trembled with his need to maintain control.
“No, you don’t. It’s been more than two years and I’m fine. I’ve been getting stronger. You aren’t going to hurt me. Show me how this works.” She reached out, curled her hands as far around their cocks as she could, and stroked firmly. “I want you…both of you…now.”
They sucked air between their teeth simultaneously and Dex leaned forward to pick her up.
Beck pulled back the silk bedding, revealing cool apricot linens underneath. He opened the bedside drawer and removed a bottle, a small towel, and condoms. There was a decorative moist towel dispenser beside the lamp.
Positioning her high on the pillows, Dex settled in on one side, Beck on the other. Trading her mouth back and forth between them, she accepted their attention happily.
“Do you like seeing me with each other?”
“Watching you with Dex shows me what you look like when you’re with me. I get to see you from a different angle, watch how your body responds, how you move. It’s highly erotic, Harley.”
“When Beck touches you, I watch all of you, knowing you’ll make those sounds…respond in a similar way when I touch you. The other day, when Beck had his mouth on you while you sucked me, it made me hard again watching how you enjoy and embrace your sexuality.”
Their hands were on her inner thighs, nudging them further apart. One hand stroked over her clit, another began thrusting in and out of her pussy.
She felt her body produce more fluids, easing their way, as she responded to their attention. Her breathing was rapid; her heart raced as she felt the now and anticipated the later.
Beck’s voice near her ear was low and sensual. “There are so many layers to a healthy ménage relationship, Harley. Anyone on the outside would believe you were being dominated by two alpha males, when in fact you control everything. It’s your pleasure, your desire, that’s most important. It’s the only thing that matters.”
Dex licked along the shell of her ear on her other side. “We reap the benefits of your ultimate satisfaction, because it heightens our orgasms to a level not experienced in any other way.”
Love of the Game - The Complete Collection (Box Set) Page 46
