Boston Avant-Garde 6: Chiaroscuro

by Kaitlin Maitland

  Owen’s facial muscles were taut, and his pupils fully dilated. Lars watched his lover close his eyes and give himself over to his climax. There was a damp spot on Lars’s belly from the precum spilling out the tip. He loved watching his partners, but his body needed more than a show.

  “Your turn.” Owen’s voice was hoarse. “Mattie baby, I’m going to turn you around so Lars can make you come again.”

  Owen’s powerful forearms bunched as he lifted her away from his spent shaft. She wriggled on his lap, helping him resettle her with her back to Owen and her splayed pussy facing Lars. He groaned at the sight of Owen’s thick white ejaculate spilling across her pink folds.

  Unable to resist, he ran his fingers through the mingled fluids. Mattie quivered at his touch. Her flesh was warm and resilient. He stroked her lovingly. He could feel the aftermath of her orgasm still lingering in her feminine core. The intimacy of it all was changing him. On this day of death and rebirth, the three of them were bound by some power he didn’t understand. Yet right here and right now the only thing that mattered was the woman who moved so sexily beneath his hands and the man who shared her love.

  Lars withdrew his fingers and sucked them clean of the sweet salt musk of his lovers. The taste lingered on his tongue and permeated his senses until he couldn’t resist any longer. He needed to be joined with them so badly his hands were shaking as he opened his slacks and withdrew his painfully erect cock. Mattie reached for him, leaning back against Owen as she fitted the head of Lars’s erection to her creamy opening.

  It was like sinking into bliss. She was so wet and tight. Her inner muscles were quivering from the orgasm she’d had with Owen. Lars moved his body in slow motion, savoring every second. She grabbed his hips and pushed herself hard against his pelvis. He could feel the root of his penis rubbing against the hood of her clit with each stroke. Lars stilled, lost in the sensation of her rhythm and drive. His nerves buzzed with the intense stimulation, and he knew his climax was coming fast.

  Mattie fucked Lars as though her entire being was focused on that one interaction, the one thing that could bring her what she needed. She clung to Owen with her fingers tangled in his long, loose hair, and when she finally came, Lars thought he would die of the pleasure.

  Her pussy squeezed him so tightly he couldn’t hold back any longer. Orgasm made his ass clench tight and his back arch. His ejaculate spilled from his cock to join his partner’s seed inside the woman they’d claimed as their own. Nothing else mattered. His past was wiped clean, any perceived infirmities washed away, and Lars was reborn.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “This is stupid. I should not be this nervous.” Mattie shifted from one foot to the other. With one hand gripping Lars’s, and the other wrapped in Owen’s, she was as fortified as she knew how to be.

  Lars glanced down as they climbed the front steps at the Aasen’s Brookline estate. “I’m nervous. I think you’re perfectly normal to be nervous. Mr. Stoic over there is the only one who’s unaffected by paltry human things like nerves.”

  “I’m just better at hiding them,” Owen retorted.

  “Maybe we should’ve dressed up and pretended to be trick-or-treaters,” Mattie suggested ridiculously. “I would’ve felt less conspicuous in a black dress with a pointy hat and a green face.”

  “So if you’re the Wicked Witch of the West, does that mean Lars puts on a pink dress and goes as Glinda?” Owen managed to keep a straight face while Mattie dissolved into giggles at the mental image he’d painted.

  Lars wasn’t about to let that go. “I’ll wear the froufrou dress if Owen goes as a flying monkey.”

  Mattie was counting her blessings as the luckiest girl on the planet when the front door swung wide open. Mattie drew back, but it was Selena who bounced outside as though they’d just rung the bell and shouted, Trick or treat!

  Selena was grinning like she thought her matchmaking attempts were responsible for world peace. “Malachi and I thought you might need some moral support.”

  Mattie let go of her men and gave her best friend a grateful hug. “Thank you.”

  Owen frowned. “Where’s Demon?”

  “He’s supervising Alisa and her friends while they trick-or-treat our neighborhood in the city.” Selena’s nonchalant announcement was the most ironic thing Mattie had heard all day.

  A slow smile spread across Owen’s face until his dark eyes were positively glowing with mirth. “So you’re telling me he’s spending the evening trailing around after a bunch of teenaged girls?”

  Selena bobbed her blonde ponytail. “Yep, and you know he’ll rip out your tongue without breaking a sweat if you mention it. Now hurry up and come in. Aunt Caroline has been beside herself since you guys left the reception at Hampshire House.”

  Mattie stepped inside the familiar foyer with its grand sweeping staircase and marble floors. She expected Selena to lead them to the formal parlor where the visits were usually done, but she headed toward the kitchen instead.

  Selena seemed to guess the direction of Mattie’s thoughts. “You’d be surprised how low-key we are around here these days. I thought it might be nice to talk in the kitchen. Mrs. Tinsley and Mom are making treats for the Halloween party we’re having for Alisa’s friends tomorrow night.”

  Mattie could not reconcile the image of Selena’s overbearing mother throwing a children’s party, but she shrugged it off and followed her friend into the warmth of the estate kitchen.

  “Come in!” Annaline Aasen gestured to the stools positioned around the center island. “Have a seat. Would you like something to drink?”

  Lars seemed at ease with this newer, gentler version of his aunt. “Thanks, but I think we’re fine.”

  Annaline picked up a glob of gooey popcorn mix and began making it into a ball. “Your mother should be down any moment, Lars.”

  As if on cue, Caroline Aasen burst into the kitchen. “Don’t you ever disappear like that again!” She ran over and nudged Mattie aside as she wrapped her son in a hug.

  Mattie couldn’t help but feel miffed by the slight, but Owen put his arms around her and shook his head. She took that to mean she should let it go for the moment. Unfortunately Caroline wasn’t done staking her motherly claim on her son.

  “I talked to poor Isabel and explained that you are not in a relationship and just have cold feet about settling down—”

  Mattie had never been more thrilled than when Lars cut his mother off midspeech to pull bodily away from her embrace. “Why would you do that?” he demanded. “I meant every word of what I said. I am in a relationship.”

  Selena gestured nervously to the island. “Why don’t we take a seat?” One glance at her aunt had her backing gratefully toward Malachi’s reassuring bulk. “No? All right then.”

  “Don’t you dare try to tell me you’re planning on spending your life with this—woman!” Caroline gestured emphatically at Mattie.

  “Actually, I am.” Lars was utterly calm. “And not just Mattie. I’m with Owen too. We’re committed to each other. You should be happy for me. For the first time in years, I finally feel like I fit somewhere.”

  Caroline’s face softened. “If this is about being bisexual, I read somewhere that testicular cancer can affect your hormones. Maybe you just need hormones or therapy or hormone therapy. I don’t know. Something!”

  Mattie felt a rush of indignation on Lars’s behalf. How dare his mother not even acknowledge her son’s ability to know his own sexuality? She opened her mouth to speak, but Owen squeezed her shoulders, and she bit back her angry words.

  “Mother.” Lars took a deep breath and stepped closer to Mattie and Owen. “I don’t think you’re listening to me.”

  She waved her hand as if to brush him off. “Lars, I—”

  “No.” He didn’t even let her get going. “I love Mattie and Owen. They love me. This isn’t some phase or a mental breakdown. I will never be able to live the life you wanted for me. Not just because I’m incapable of fathe
ring children. It would’ve never made me happy. I can’t be that man, Mother.” He was trying so hard to make her see, but there was resistance on her face.

  Caroline rallied, putting her hands on her hips and staring up at her son as if she thought she had laser vision capable of convincing him to see things her way. “You have a responsibility to our family and to the company, Lars. You’re an Aasen. You belong in a boardroom.”

  Lars made a frustrated noise and rubbed a hand down his face. “I hate working for Aasen International, hate it! It’s mind-numbingly boring, and I don’t know how Erik stands it!”

  Caroline looked incensed. “He stands it because it’s his duty!”

  “Yeah, well, it isn’t mine,” Lars shot back. “I’ve made the decision not to go back to Interpol either. I’m going to turn in my resignation.”

  It was Mattie’s turn for shock. “What? When did you decide to do that?”

  Lars half turned to give her a smile and then saw the expression on Owen’s face. “Oh, don’t even say it, you smug bastard.”

  Owen released Mattie long enough to hold up his hands. “It was only a suspicion. I just quit my job at Triptych, if it makes you feel any better.”

  Mattie was over the moon with joy. She put her hands on her hips and gave them her best glare. “Are you telling me I’ve shacked up with two unemployed mooches?”

  “Owen, no!” Selena was practically hyperventilating. She glared at Malachi over her shoulder. “When the hell were you planning on telling me?”

  Malachi looked as though he found the drama very entertaining. He gave his wife a shrug. “I figured it would come up sooner or later. It isn’t like I got the text days ago. It was an hour or less.”

  Caroline Aasen was bobbing back and forth, looking as if she were trying to follow all the conversations in the room at once. “Stop this nonsense! Stop it!” She clutched at Lars’s arm. “I want grandbabies! I lost all my babies, and then I lost your father. Now you’re leaving me all alone, and I won’t have it!”

  Mattie wanted to dislike this woman with her overbearing personality and rude ways, but something Caroline said struck a chord, and Mattie couldn’t let it pass. They were the same. Mattie wanted a home and a husband and children to love just like Caroline. She’d felt alone for so long; now she had two men who loved her.

  And a baby on the way.

  Something had happened between the three of them in that little tumbledown cottage in the woods. Mattie couldn’t have said what kind of power bubbled beneath the surface of the mundane world, but there was no denying what she’d felt when Owen and Lars had filled her pussy full of their essence in the heat of the moment.

  Lars gazed at his mother with something akin to pity. Mattie gnawed her lower lip and wondered if she’d come to regret what she was about to do. She took a deep, fortifying breath and let it all tumble out. “You’re not alone, Caroline. We’re here. Owen, Lars, and I are going to be a family—and we’re going to have a baby too.”

  Owen cocked his head, his dark gaze sweeping her from head to toe. She got the feeling he wasn’t really that surprised. Lars, on the other hand, was speechless.

  “How?” He turned and reached hesitantly for her flat belly. “Are you sure?”

  Mattie thought of the oceanic moment when the three of them had been so close that they’d almost lived inside each other’s skin. They could have a commitment ceremony if they wanted, but nothing would compare to the bonding that had occurred right then when they’d conceived their first child.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Selena squeaked, obviously trying to hold back a yelp of delight. She was practically vibrating in place, hands gripping Malachi’s arms so tightly she was going to leave a mark.

  Lars swept Mattie up into a hug, reaching for Owen and holding them both close. “That’s the most incredible news ever.”

  “It’s going to be a pretty amazing baby considering where it was conceived, and on Halloween morning, of all times.” Mattie gazed up at her men. “And also taking the gene pool into account.”

  Caroline peered at them in consternation, her mouth opening and closing as if she couldn’t decide how to react.

  Mattie decided to throw her a bone. “That would make you a grandmother, if you’d like the job.”

  Mattie could see the war going on behind the older woman’s polished exterior. Finally she caved. She carefully wiped away a tear before it could smudge her makeup. “I’d be honored.”

  Lars pulled back from his lovers to draw his mother in closer. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Owen Bloodmoon and Matilda English.”

  “You can just call me Mattie.” Mattie gave the other woman a warm hug.

  Caroline gazed at them all as if she were trying desperately to understand where she could fit into all of this. “And I suppose you can all call me Mom.”

  * * * *

  Owen glanced sideways at Mattie as she bounced in the middle seat of the truck. “Ugh, how can you be so calm?”

  Lars exchanged grins with Owen over the top of Mattie’s head. “Well, love, he probably doesn’t need to pee—again.”

  “It isn’t my fault, you know.” She wrinkled her nose, looking so cute Owen could hardly resist the urge to lean down and kiss her. “Although all those pregnancy books say the constantly having to pee is supposed to come later. What if I can’t even leave the bathroom by then!” She looked thoughtful. “Do you think our new master bathroom will be big enough to set up my easel?”

  Owen rolled his eyes, looking away from the road long enough to shoot Lars a withering stare. “If Mr. Has To Have Everything gets his way, I’m pretty sure there’ll be enough room for your studio and a bed in the master bath.”

  Lars looked offended. “I just want it to be roomy enough for all three of us.”

  “You’re the one with the closet-space issue.” Owen didn’t really care that his lover had a bigger collection of socks and belts than Owen did jeans and T-shirts. He happened to think it was sexy that Lars took care of himself and was trying to do the same for Owen and Mattie.

  Mattie sighed and rested her cheek against Owen’s arm. “I’m just wondering how silly it will look when the ‘addition’ you’re planning starts to resemble a monster crouched behind the original house.”

  “That’s why I hired the architect,” Lars explained for the millionth time. “And you two are going to be thanking me before this is all over. The three of us and a whole pack of kids using one bathroom and two bedrooms would be like bad reality TV.”

  Owen felt a flutter in his belly, but he wasn’t sure if it was the mention of a “pack of kids” or that fact that he’d just made the final turn that would bring them to his grandmother’s house. It had been so long, but nothing much had changed on her rural street.

  The rough wood houses were clustered together amid the grasses growing knee-high and waving in the fall breeze. Yellow, red, and brown leaves fluttered to the ground and clogged the gutters edging the tiny square houses. Owen saw several of the residents relaxing on their porches or working in the yard. He nodded as he drove by, though he received more stares than acknowledgments.

  “It’s beautiful,” Mattie said softly. “Is this where you grew up?”

  Owen swung the old truck into his grandmother’s driveway. “This is it.”

  His heart was hammering against his ribs. He got out, closing the driver’s door behind him. On the other side of the vehicle, Lars was helping Mattie down. Owen had just started up the front walk when the door flew open.

  Grandmother hadn’t aged at all in the fifteen years he’d been gone. Owen was struck speechless by the memories that hit hard and fast. A thick white braid hung over her right shoulder. The colorful woven belt at her waist had probably come from her own loom. Her denim skirt was long, just brushing the fringe on her moccasins. Everything, from her warm brown skin to the light in her eyes was exactly as Owen remembered.

  She held out her arms, and Owen was powerless to stop him
self from running to her. She touched his cheek with her warm palm. “Welcome home.”

  He held her against his heart, feeling so many things and knowing he didn’t have to say a word. She knew. She’d long forgiven him for that night when his actions had caused the death of his grandfather. It had been up to Owen to forgive himself. With Lars’s and Mattie’s help, he’d been able to do just that.

  “The shadow has left your eyes,” Grandmother told him. “Your grandfather would be proud of the man you’ve become.”

  Owen reached shakily for Mattie and Lars. They approached hesitantly, Mattie chewing her lip and gripping Lars’s hand as though she intended to remove his fingers.

  “Grandmother, this is Mattie and Lars.” He gave her the insolent look she’d chastised him for a million times during his youth. “Although I suspect you already knew that.”

  Grandmother drew Lars and Mattie into her embrace. “Thank you, thank you for bringing my boy home to me.”

  Mattie gazed up at Owen as she clutched Grandmother tightly around the neck. “We’re family, and blessed to be so.”

  Loose Id Titles by Kaitlin Maitland

  Daggertail

  * * * *

  The BOSTON AVANT-GARDE Series

  Strung Out

  Crescendo

  Impetuous

  Encore

  Bellicoso

  Chiaroscuro

  * * * *

  The CLAN McKINLOCH Series

  Stars, Stripes & Xmas Bells

  Hearts, Candy & Clover

  Junebugs, Haunted Hauses & Jack-o-lanterns

  Kaitlin Maitland

  Kaitlin Maitland is an avid reader and a rabid horse enthusiast with a love of drama in everyday life. She began writing at the age of twelve after growing tired of waiting for her favorite authors to write sequels. Now she’s scrambling to write her own sequels while keeping up with a variety of exciting new characters and settings. Kaitlin makes her home in the Midwest and while she has yet to travel to a distant planet, she finds plenty of story-inspiring drama close to home.