Matt moved behind her and lifted her wet hair. He kissed the back of her neck and she shivered with delight. He kissed and nibbled her ears lobes and tickled them with his hot breath. So gentle. So new. She took Blake’s face in her hands and caressed his cheeks, his jaw, the tight cords which stood out in his thick neck.
As Matt ran his hands up and down her sides, nibbling and kissing her neck, Blake kissed her mouth, her throat, the tops of her breasts which rose and fell rapidly above her dress.
Then they began to undress her.
They gently stripped away her clothing. Pulled off her boots and stockings and unlaced her corset. All the while, still kissing and caressing her so that every inch of her body was aflame.
When she stood in just her shift before them, they quickly peeled off their own clothes.
Grace trembled. Being exposed in the past had heralded the advent of pain and fear. Agony that sometimes lasted the whole night through. If Matt and Blake had hidden their true selves from her and they were about to hurt her, then she would die in their arms. She would want to. Because finding out that they were not the good, kind men that she had fallen for would break her heart. And if that happened, then death would be a welcome escape.
She gazed at Blake. Naked, he was even easier on the eye than he was fully clothed. He was strong, muscular, firm. His body was hard and defined from his broad shoulders to his strong wide thighs. The ebony hair of his head was echoed across his chest in a light dusting and a line of hair ran from his chest down to his navel then to the patch of dark curls at his groin. From amidst them jutted his thick, erect cock. It stuck out from his body, dusky pink with dark, raised veins and a bead of moisture like a diamond at its quivering tip.
Rather than filling her with fear or revulsion, as Jack’s member had, Blake’s filled her with need. It was an extension of this gentle and desirable man. A part of him and what he had to offer. And she wanted it. Wanted him. Inside her.
A nudging at her back made her turn to Matt. He was as gorgeous as Blake. His skin as bronzed down to his waist then white where his flesh had not been exposed to the sun. His chest was hairless but at his groin, the curls were as golden blond as her own. His impressive erection stood to attention, as thick and hard as Blake’s.
They both wanted her. She hugged herself tight inside.
Matt pulled her into his arms and laid her down on the bed facing him. He kissed her softly at first but his kisses grew harder as he pulled her body against his own. His cock nudged at the front of her shift, pushing the thin material between her legs. All of her inhibitions drifted away as she gave in to the need and longing that pulsed through her core.
She had denied herself so much for what felt like a lifetime. Been afraid and numb for an eternity. But finally, she was free. Finally, she was beginning to open up, to surrender to what she wanted.
Behind her, Blake had begun to edge her shift up her legs. He kissed each patch of newly revealed skin. He got to her bottom and kissed the cheeks. It tickled and Grace wriggled on the bed, causing Matt to grind into her even harder. His cock slipped through the folds of her shift and between the wet folds of her sex, sliding around in her damp heat. She groaned, desperate to feel him pushing into her further so that he entered her body completely.
Her shift was up to her lower back now. And still Blake kissed her.
In front of her, Matt also lifted the material, exposing her pussy, her belly, her pert little breasts with their hard fuchsia nubs. Matt moved down her body and began to suckle her nipples, pulling them into his mouth in turn until she panted with need. All the times that Jack had taken her, he’d never stirred her like this. His hands on her breasts had been cruel and he had made her flesh crawl. Matt’s caresses made her want to scream with need.
At the same time he ran a hand down between her legs, pushing between her wet silken lips and rubbing at her swollen bud. She moved with his knowing hand, up and down, round and round. She pulled his head closer to her breasts, losing herself in pleasure.
“That’s it, Matt! Touch me there,” she gasped. “Suckle me. That’s it. That’s it. More, please more.”
She climbed to the summit of arousal. Her clit tensed. Her pussy ached as it contracted. Her nipples throbbed as Matt pulled on them. Behind her, Blake slipped his fingers between her buttocks and found the small, tight hole that puckered at his feather-light caress. He slipped his fingers forwards, stealing some of the juices from her aroused pussy then spreading them backwards. When he nudged her opening again, she moaned and he slid his finger in, gently feeling around.
Front and back, she was stimulated. Penetrated. Relentlessly. Until she could take no more and she burst onto their hands, into their mouths, her whole body shaking in delighted surprise. But they continued kissing and caressing and she began to climb again. Tensing. Contracting. Pulsing.
Grace had not known that such pleasure was possible and her heart threatened to burst with the sheer joy of having Matt and Blake. Simultaneously. Not having to choose. Not having to deny herself either of them.
Then her shift was up to her shoulders and she heard Blake’s distressed cry.
She froze as if she’d been doused in ice-cold water.
Matt stopped and gaped at her.
Blake pulled her to him and held her there. His face buried in her hair. His hand absently cradling her stomach.
They lay there.
Unmoving.
Confused.
Wrapped around one another.
Grace’s stomach churned with nausea. Blake had seen her scars. In her lust-fuelled haze, she had forgotten. She had been so lost in desire and need that she had allowed them to remove her clothing.
Matt just stared at Grace then at Blake. He was baffled. Wary. Fearful.
Blake continued to cradle Grace against him as if he was afraid that she would float away if he let go. His erection waned where it touched her thighs. He pressed little kisses into her nape. He let out little distressed moans like an animal in pain.
“What is it?” Matt finally broke the silence. “Did we hurt you?” His eyes were filled with fear. “Did we do something you didn’t like?”
Grace’s eyes brimmed with tears.
“It’s her back, Matt.” Blake sat up behind her. “It’s unbelievable.”
Grace shut her eyes tight as Matt got up from the bed and walked around her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly.
What must they think of her now?
Shame gripped her and bile burned the back of her throat.
As they gazed at her in silence, she let the scalding tears roll down her cheeks and onto her new patchwork coverlet. They sat there on the surface of the material, transparent beads of grief. Of loss. Of pain. Of humiliation.
She had thought to forget herself and her past. Had thought to give herself to Matt and to Blake. Had been amazed that they both seemed to want her. Their kisses, their caresses had been wonderful and she had basked in their mutual adoration of her body.
But it had been more than just a physical connection. The way that they looked at her, was with more than lust. They were her friends. They had laughed together. Eaten together. Shared some of their secrets.
Yet Grace had kept her worst secret to herself. She realised now that it might have been better to air it. To share it. For whatever was running through the cowboys’ minds now could be worse than she might have feared.
Did they think that she had been a wayward wife? That she had deserved the beatings that Jack had meted out? Even though he had been buried two months since, one of her scars still refused to heal completely. The one he had inflicted with his belt. Pulling it from his trousers and heating the tender flesh of her back with it until she had ceased even begging him to stop. She had just shut down, retreated into the safe, dark corner of her mind where he couldn’t reach her. She had collapsed beneath the brutality that made him whip her until he was covered in sweat and out of breath.
Now
her worst secret had just been exposed.
Whatever would Matt and Blake think of her?
She pressed her hands over her face and made herself as small as she possibly could. And she let the tears fall as she sobbed harder than ever before.
Chapter Six
Blake kicked off his boots, shrugged out of his shirt and his trousers then folded them before placing them over his saddle. He lowered himself to sit on his bedroll which he’d used to create a makeshift bed in one of the empty stalls in the barn.
They had stayed with Grace as she cried, stroking her hair until she fell asleep. They had discussed staying the night with her but felt it best to give her some space and time to work out her feelings. Besides, they weren’t far away if she needed them.
Though he had known that Grace held something back, nursed an awful secret, he had hoped that she would reveal it in time. When she was ready to divulge it. Neither he nor Matt had pushed her to reveal it. They were aware of how it hurt to give voice to some secrets and how it was sometimes easier to leave things buried in the past.
Matt was already sitting on his bedroll. Within touching distance. His face was clouded. His blue eyes were grey with worry and his jaw muscle twitched on the right-hand side. A sign that he was furious.
“Matt?” Blake reached for his hand. “Can we talk about this?”
Matt curled his hands into fists and frowned.
“Matt? I’m hurting too y’know!” Blake’s sorrow surged like a tidal wave inside him. It threatened to burst from him in a torrent if he couldn’t talk about his feelings soon.
Matt met his gaze. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just…I can’t believe that someone could do that to a woman. To her. How could he have hurt her like that?”
Blake nodded. He understood.
If Jack Holbein hadn’t already been in the ground then Blake was fully aware that Matt would right this minute have been hunting him down. Treating a woman in that way. It just wasn’t acceptable.
They had suspected that Grace’s secret was linked to fear and her deceased husband. She had kept quiet about it so far. But they’d been getting to know each other. Both he and Matt had seen her begin to blossom like a flower in springtime. Her body had begun to fill out a little in the weeks they’d known her and they had encouraged her to eat. To laugh. To relax. To live.
Grace was a lovely woman. They had both fallen for her. It was obvious. But they had kept back from her physically. It hadn’t seemed right to push her for more than friendship. And the occasional brush of a hand, warm flesh meeting warm flesh. Making a human connection.
Blake had shared an unspoken agreement with Matt, knowing as two lovers together for a long time do, that they understood how things were working out and would take it slow and steady. Be sure that Grace was the one. That it could work between them. They would not do anything to hurt her, either physically or emotionally, and they did not want to scare her so that she retreated into the dark space that she’d begun to emerge from.
And it had been going so well.
Earlier, seeing her beautiful body and her sensual response to their advances…the thoughts just filled his body with heat again…he had been overwhelmed by the depths of his feelings for her.
He wanted Grace. Matt wanted Grace. They wanted Grace. They needed her now.
“Blake.” Matt gritted his teeth. “I can’t believe what we’ve just seen.”
Blake moved closer to him and took his head in his hands. He pressed a kiss into Matt’s hair then rubbed his back.
“I know and if he wasn’t dead…” Blake let the unfinished sentence drift through the air like gun smoke.
Matt knew.
Jack was dead and nothing would change that. But they could change Grace’s life. Grace’s future. Their future.
“Ya know, I never thought we’d ever find anyone after Rebecca.” Blake lay down on the bedroll next to Matt and pulled him down to lie in his arms. Matt rested his golden head upon Blake’s chest.
“Me either. It seemed wrong to even want to. As if we were cheating on Rebecca or forgetting the twins in some way.”
“But life moves on.”
“I’m tired of denying everything that happened, Blake. I’m so tired of running from it all.”
Blake’s eyes filled with hot tears and he bit his lip. To hear his strong, brave lover admit that he was tired of trying to escape their grief broke his heart. Matt was so strong and so controlled. He rarely showed any signs of weakness or being affected by life’s trials. But it was clear that even he could tire of pushing their grief away. It was time to embrace their past with all of its pain and loss, to work it through then dust themselves off and move into the future. Whatever that future held.
“I know, Matt. Me too. But we’re still young. We can’t change what happened to Rebecca and the twins. We can’t change what happened to Grace in the past.”
“But we can have an effect upon what happens next.” Matt raised himself onto an elbow and began to kiss Blake.
He relaxed into the familiar pattern of their lovemaking as Matt, seeking comfort from him, undressed himself then undressed Blake. As Matt showered his needy flesh with kisses, Blake allowed himself to imagine that Grace was there with them. Kissing them. Loving them. Sharing in their desire. Her presence would be all they needed to make this moment perfect.
Matt slipped down his body and took his erection in his powerful hands. When he massaged Blake, it was with love, tenderness and experience. He took Blake into his mouth and laved the tip of his cock, prying into the tiny slit with his hot tongue before enveloping the entire length. Blake groaned, deep in Matt’s throat. Deep inside the man he loved. And when Matt grabbed his balls and gently squeezed, he was unable to hold back any longer and he jerked his hot seed into Matt’s waiting mouth.
Then Matt flipped Blake onto his front. Blake got to his knees in the familiar position and raised his behind, preparing himself for Matt’s entry.
He heard Matt release some of the cum he had held in his mouth and smother it over his own cock, lubricating himself to ease his way into Blake. Blake grunted as Matt prodded his large, hard member between his ass cheeks as Matt began to guide himself in.
He gave himself up to the moment and to sensation. He gave himself up to his lover and to his needy thrusts. And he gave his heart up to Grace, the woman he now loved.
****
Grace stood up and stretched. It was shadowy in the bedroom. She must have slept through most of the afternoon.
She shuddered as she remembered what had happened. It rushed in with painful clarity and she hugged her shift around her. They had seen her scars. They had held her as she cried. Matt and Blake had witnessed her at her most vulnerable. They must have been horrified. Repulsed.
And now they were gone!
She reached for her dress and stepped into it, fumbling with the buttons. She dragged her hands through her sleep-tangled hair, trying to pull it into a knot at the nape of her neck then gave up and left it down.
Where were they? Had they really been revolted by her scars and abandoned her? What if they had quit the farm while she slept and she was now alone? The thought of never seeing them again, of returning to her dreary unfulfilled existence filled her with the most terrible bone-chilling fear. She wrung her hands together, twisting them hard, as if trying to squeeze the terror out of her fingertips.
She did not want to be alone. She did not want to lose them. She wanted Matt and Blake in her life. Both of them. She could never choose one over the other. It had to be the three of them, together.
Grace flung open the bedroom door and ran through the cabin and out the front door. The yard was empty. Calm. Quiet.
She scanned around the farm, searching desperately for some sign, some clue. The barn! Perhaps they were in the barn.
She raced across to the great double doors then stopped in front of them. What if they weren’t inside? If their horses and their bedrolls and the men themselves were
not there?
Her heart thundered so hard it hurt. Her mouth was dry as sand. Her hands trembled as she raised them to push the door open. It swung wide and she closed her eyes.
She took a deep breath.
She heard a noise.
She opened her eyes. No sign. Where are you?
A muffled moaning came from the stall where they’d set up the bedrolls. She stole over to it, afraid to make a sound lest she disturb them or fracture her hope that they were still there.
She reached the stall and peered over the gate.
And gasped.
Chapter Seven
Grace blinked.
She placed her shaking hands upon the stall rail and leant forwards. She was sure that she would fall if she did not hold onto something.
She stared down at Matt and Blake and they stared back. They were naked. Matt was behind Blake and he was clearly inside him.
What was happening?
She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
“Grace?” Blake met her eyes and she saw that his were dark and full. Full of emotion. Full of desire. And full of something even more powerful.
Their connection.
These men had a friendship, it was true. But they were also lovers. It explained so much.
She covered her mouth with her hand.
Though it surprised her, she was not horrified. In her life she had been through a lot. She knew that people did all sorts of things when they coupled. Jack had used both of her holes and her mouth. But he had used her. Not made love to her.
What she had just witnessed, before her gasp surprised Matt and Blake, was an act of love. Though Matt had been buried in Blake up to his balls, each thrust was one of tenderness and overwhelming passion. The look on his face, in his eyes, was that of love for the man he entered. Jack had never shown her such love.
This was how love-making was supposed to be.
“Grace. Please…” Matt gently pulled away from Blake and stood up. He approached her. She jumped as he covered her hands with his own. They were warm and reassuring as they enveloped hers. His touch sent heat right through her.
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