by Maya Banks
“I’m still that young girl falling in love with three men at the same time,” she said. “And yet that was a lifetime ago and yesterday all at the same time. I’m not ready to go. I’m not ready for this life to be over. I love it so much. I love you so very much.”
Adam’s chest clenched, and he read the same dismay on his brothers’ faces. They didn’t even want to consider a time when they wouldn’t be together.
Ethan touched her cheek, his eyes softening in love, the wrinkles at the corners more pronounced than they’d been a decade ago. “Our love is forever, sweetheart. The end of our lives here is only the beginning for us. Not even death can separate us.”
“Not to mention we all have a lot of years left,” Adam said gruffly. “So don’t even think about checking out early. I’ll drag you back by your hair if I have to.”
Holly laughed and the sound sent sunshine straight to Adam’s soul. Her eyes twinkled and the shadows had lifted.
“I have no doubt you’d do just that.”
“Count on it,” Ryan growled. “Never giving you up, honey. That’s a fact.”
“They’re going to be fine,” Holly said with a contented sigh. “Did you see the boys? I’ve never seem them that undone. And Lily. There’s no more sorrow in her eyes. She positively glowed.”
Adam smiled. “Thank you, baby.”
She cocked her head, looking at him in puzzlement. “What for?”
Adam leaned over the couch to touch his lips to hers. “For giving me four wonderful children. For giving me a life full of more love than I ever dreamed. For accepting us. For loving us. For coming home to us.”
Tears shone brightly in her eyes as she stroked his cheek.
“You know, we never did get around to taking that trip we talked about at Christmas. I distinctly remember discussing a beach, being naked and making love for an entire week.”
Ethan chuckled. “That’s because you refused to even consider leaving when Lily was pregnant.”
“But she’s not now,” Holly said with a mischievous grin. “I’m thinking after we give them a few weeks to settle into a routine and they don’t need as much anymore, that we should pack up and go on that vacation.”
“I think that’s a very good idea,” Ryan murmured as he kissed her again. “I have a distinct need to show my wife how very much I love her.”
CHAPTER 6
LAUREN took longer than usual in the bathroom as she prepared for bed. The last several days had been full of activity with the arrival of Caleb James Colter, named for two of his great-grandfathers. The Colters and the Wilders had descended on the younger Colters’ home, providing food, childcare, and whatever else was needed to ensure Lily rested and was stress free.
Lauren had delighted in these days. They’d given her a preview of her own future. Her children. Surrounded by family. People who loved her. But mostly of how it would be when she gave Liam and Noah their own child.
They’d been enraptured by Caleb. The entire family was. As if sensing how fragile his mother was, Caleb was the perfect baby. So quiet and sweet. Not fussy at all. He’d been a dream to breast-feed, something that had worn Lily down with her first child. But then true to their word, Lily hadn’t lifted so much as a finger.
Holly Colter had gone through like a drill sergeant making a list of duties that covered every need. All Lily had to do was rest and feed the baby.
Lauren let out a happy sigh. She wanted Holly there when she had her own child. She missed her own mother dreadfully. Wished she’d lived to see both Max and Lauren happy and settled. Looking to the arrival of their own children. Holly was that mother figure to her now. And well, the dads were her fathers too. She was one of them. A Colter. Not by name, but in all the ways that mattered.
“Are you okay in there, honey?” Noah called.
She smiled and then slid her hands down the silky lingerie she’d chosen for this occasion. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked out to face the two men who waited for her.
They were sprawled on the bed where she’d told them to wait. As their gazes lifted, sultry heat entered their eyes. They went smoky with desire.
“Where in the hell did you get that?” Liam breathed out. “I definitely would have remembered that.”
She grinned and glanced at Noah, whose mouth was open.
But she also saw hope in their eyes. Not that they’d ever push her. They wouldn’t even hint or suggest. They simply waited for her to make the first move. And she loved them so dearly for that.
“I want to start practicing for those babies,” she said as she crawled onto the end of the bed. “I don’t want to use condoms anymore. The timing’s not right for me to get pregnant tonight, and well, if it happened, it happens. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it when it’s something I want so badly. But I don’t want to use anything anymore. If we aren’t ready to take the plunge quite yet, then I’ll go on birth control. But I want there to be nothing between us. Not anymore.”
Liam expelled his breath in a long exhale. “Oh God, baby. We want that too. But are you sure? I mean tonight? We don’t mind waiting. We want this to be perfect for you. I’d die before hurting or frightening you.”
She ran her hand up his leg to his knee and squeezed. “It will be perfect. It couldn’t be anything else with you.”
Noah leaned up, curled a hand around her nape and brought his mouth to hers. Hungry. He was so hungry. He swallowed up her breaths, his tongue delving deep as though he’d waited years for this moment. And the last six weeks had seemed like years. For her and no doubt for them as they waited so patiently for her to take the next step.
She sighed into his mouth and then sighed again when Liam pushed in on her side, his arm curving around her body. She was right where she belonged. Between the two men she loved and who loved her with everything they had. She didn’t doubt that love. Not for a minute. They’d spent every moment of the last six weeks proving to her without words what she meant to them.
“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you both so much.”
“I love you too, baby,” Liam said into her ear.
Noah hauled her forward, falling to his back with her sprawled over him. His eyes glittered over her face, warming her as though it were a tangible touch.
“I love you, honey. Never want you to doubt that for a second. We’re going to be together a damn long time. Every day, you’ll wake up and Liam and I will be here. Every night when we go to bed, we’ll be the last thing you see. And when you wake up, the first thing you see. Us. Our love.”
“You’re going to make me cry,” she said accusingly.
“Don’t want you crying,” Liam growled. “Screaming our names, yes. Crying, no.”
“I like the way you think,” she murmured.
“Not that I don’t love that lingerie, but think we can dispense with it so we see you naked?” Noah asked, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“I’m yours to command.”
Before she’d even finished, Liam was tugging at her top, sliding it over her head before tossing it aside. Noah pulled at her lacy panties, Liam taking over when he’d worked them over her buttocks.
“Now you,” she said, moving off Noah long enough for the two men to take off their underwear.
“Don’t have to talk me into it,” Liam muttered. “I damn near ripped my underwear the minute you walked out of the bathroom.”
She grinned and then swallowed when both men stood by the bed, their erections turgid and straining upward. Liam wrapped his fingers around his length and stroked up and down, coaxing it to further rigidity.
She licked her lips and both men groaned.
“Hell, honey,” Noah rasped out. “Don’t do that. Not when we want to make this perfect and make love to you like nobody’s ever made love to you before. You make me think of nothing but having those sweet lips wrapped around my dick, and that’s not what I want to happen tonight.”
“Then what do you want to happen?”
she asked huskily.
“Tonight is all about you,” Liam murmured. “Us loving you. Showing you our love.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” she teased.
“Not a damn thing,” Noah growled.
Liam picked her up, cradled her in his arms and then gently put her down on the bed, laying her out like a feast before the two men.
They caressed her, hands everywhere, coaxing and soothing. They followed with their mouths, licking over her skin, sucking at her most sensitive spots until she was a writhing mess.
Noah’s tongue, hot and rough, slid over her clit, eliciting a sharp gasp. Liam licked and sucked at her nipples, taking each in turn, forming rigid peaks that strained and begged for more.
Her thighs began to shake when Noah pushed his tongue inside her, licking from the inside out. He fucked in and out with that wicked tongue until she was crying his name over and over. Then he slipped two fingers inside, moving his mouth upward so he could tease her clit again.
“Noah, please! I don’t want to come. Not yet. It’s too soon. I want you both inside me!”
He chuckled, the sound vibrating over her sensitive flesh. She could almost come from that alone. She was perched high, precariously close to tumbling right over the edge, and she didn’t want to. Not until they were both inside her. Flesh to flesh. Nothing separating them.
She wanted to feel them come inside her. Didn’t want their semen trapped in the latex, shielded within. She wanted everything they had to give.
Liam’s lips covered hers, hot, wet, his tongue sliding deep inside her mouth. She licked back, tasting him, inhaling his air, savoring it before returning it back to him.
“I love you,” he said, the words escaping into her mouth. “So damn much, Lauren.”
“I love you too,” she whispered back before kissing him into silence once more.
“I want that sweet ass tonight,” Noah said, his voice laced with want and need. “Liam had it last time. It’s mine tonight.”
She closed her eyes as images of that night weeks ago. Before her world went to hell again. The night when they’d pledged so much to one another. When they’d both taken her at the same time. What she’d begged them to do. Tonight would be about reestablishing that connection. Not broken. Merely tested.
“Can you get on top of me, baby?” Liam whispered against her mouth. “And let Noah have that pretty ass?”
She moaned. She could do anything they wanted as long as it meant both of them being inside her.
Noah left his spot between her legs, giving her one last long lick that left her quivering, right on the edge.
Carefully the two men turned her, Liam sliding underneath before reaching for her hips to move her up his body to straddle him.
“We’re going to take this nice and slow, baby. I’m going to get inside you first. Make sure you’re damn close when Noah takes your ass. We’ll make it good. Like before. Trust us, Lauren.”
Liam reached to grasp his cock, and with his other hand gripping her hip, he eased her upward, tucking the head of his penis to her opening. She closed her eyes, savoring that first touch. How she stretched to accommodate him. The sinful sensation of him pushing inside her.
They both moaned low in their throats as she took more of him. She braced her palms against his taut belly and lowered herself still more.
When she settled onto his hips, he smoothed his hands over her belly and then up to cup her breasts, caressing her nipples between his fingers until they were hard and puckered.
“Is she ready for me?” Noah asked in a low voice. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
Lauren smiled at the worry in his voice. He was bigger than Liam, which was probably why Liam had taken her anally the one time before.
“Give me a minute,” Liam said.
He continued his gentle assault on her breasts and then slid one hand down between their legs, where they were joined. He stroked over her clit, rubbing slowly in a circular motion until she went wet around his cock.
“She’s ready,” he said in satisfaction.
“Spread her for me,” Noah said, an edge to his voice that made her shiver.
Liam slid his hands around her waist and then over her buttocks before cupping them with his palms. He gently squeezed and then spread her to Noah. Noah’s finger rubbed down the seam, spreading slick lubricant in its wake. Then he pushed inward with a finger, easing more inside her.
Where on earth had he gotten lubricant, and how had he done so without her knowing? But then she’d been pretty occupied with Liam for the last moments. And it was likely they’d planned for this. Eventually . . .
She smiled, confident in their desire. That she was never far from their minds and neither was their making love to her.
“Relax, honey. I’m going to push inside you now. Just breathe and try not to fight it,” Noah said.
She automatically tensed the moment the blunt head of his penis nudged her entrance. Noah’s hands caressed up and down her sides. Over her back, into her hair, petting and relaxing her once more.
She moaned again when he began to breach her opening. Relentless, with just enough steady pressure. She opened around him, greedy for his possession. She wanted both men inside her. Deep. Hard. A part of her. Forever.
“Almost there, honey.”
She sighed and closed her eyes.
“Open those pretty eyes, baby. I want to see them,” Liam rumbled.
She complied, gazing down at him, allowing all her love to show.
The burn increased and then suddenly her body gave way, taking him all the way inside. He rested a moment, his pelvis pressed flat against her ass. Never had she felt anything to compare to this. Right here. Right now. Like missing pieces to a puzzle. Finally complete. Whole.
Noah pressed a kiss to the middle of her back and then gently eased back. She let out a soft groan, and then he pushed forward again. With more force this time. He rocked her against Liam, and Liam was waiting, his arms surrounding her. Holding her. Supporting her. Never letting her go.
Both men began an alternating rhythm. Thrusting. Withdrawing. Back and forth. Deep and then deeper still.
Her body was taut. Tension coiled in her muscles, becoming tighter with every passing second as her orgasm rose and sharpened.
“Never felt anything so sweet,” Noah murmured. “Your love, honey. Never had anything sweeter. Never will.”
Bracing herself on Liam’s chest, she pushed back, taking a more active part in the lovemaking. They all found a rhythm. Perfect harmony. Moving in unison. With one accord. Like they were meant to be.
“Want you there first,” Liam whispered. “I want to see you come apart in our arms. Fall, Lauren. Let go. We’ll catch you. We’ll always catch you.”
His words sent her spinning out of control. The room tilted and blurred. All she could see was Liam’s face. His eyes. Beautiful and so full of love.
Her breath caught, knotting in her throat until her chest felt like it would explode.
And then she let go.
And as Liam had promised, he was there to catch her. He gathered her in his arms, holding her close as Noah thrust into her harder, faster.
Liam arched his body upward, his muscles as tight as hers had been. Strain was evident in his face, but his eyes never left her face.
Then Noah lunged forward one last time. With a shout, he thrust deep and then remained there, his body jerking spasmodically against hers. Liam’s muffled curse rose and then he groaned harshly, his body bowed, straining under hers and Noah’s weight.
Both men were breathing hard, plastered against her. She was sandwiched between them, one heartbeat against her back, the other against her cheek. Never had she felt safer or more loved than she did right now in their arms.
She emitted a dreamy sigh and then let out a sound of protest when Noah began to withdraw.
He kissed her back again, right at the small, before pulling the rest of the way out.
“Ne
ed to clean you up, honey,” he said gently. “I’ll be right back.”
She lay there on Liam, his arms wrapped around her body, holding her snugly to his, him still deeply embedded inside her.
“Was that okay?” Liam murmured.
She smiled against his chest. “Oh yeah. Perfect.”
He squeezed her. “I’m glad. Welcome home, baby.”
Tears blurred her vision. She was home. Right where she belonged. But she couldn’t ever truly be at home until the men she loved were with her. Fully. And now they were.
Noah returned, wiping a warm cloth over her skin to clean her. Then Liam gently lifted her, pulling free from her body in a hot rush. They laid her down and finished the job Noah had started.
When they were done, Noah tossed the cloth in the direction of the bathroom and then climbed into bed next to Lauren. He pulled the covers over her while Liam settled on her other side.
“Now, there’s something we want to discuss with you,” Liam said.
Her eyes widened.
“Don’t look like that, honey. It’s nothing bad. Well, I hope to fuck it’s not.”
She laughed at the sudden uncertainty in his voice.
Liam was more serious, though. His expression never faltered as he took her hand, guiding it to his mouth. Then he reached back and into the nightstand to pull out a small box. Putting it between them, he glanced up at Noah as if waiting for his friend to speak.
“I know we discussed it on the flight home. It wasn’t the best time, and I regret bringing it up when your world had been upended. But there’s not a more perfect time than right now when you’re in our arms, soft and sleepy from making love to both of us.”
“What is it, Noah?” she asked quietly.
Liam cleared his throat. “We want you to marry us, Lauren.”
As he spoke, he opened the box and pulled out a sparkling diamond ring. Her hand shook as he carefully slid it onto her third finger. Then he kissed it.
“I know we discussed it,” Noah continued. “But we want to ask you now. Now that you’ve had time to process it and what our life would be like together.”
