Clearly, the men she was falling for were pure evil. Or evil genius. Maybe both.
She cleaned up and donned a robe, and then she sprawled on her stomach and reached for her cell.
Knowing they were at Blasphemy, she entered both of their names into one message chain so she could text them both. Received your gift. Making use of it right now. In related news: it’s super HOT down here.
Grinning, she hit Send.
And then she placed an order for room service. Just as she got off the hotel phone, her cell vibrated against the bed. She scooped it up and found a text from Jonathan.
Well, damn, now it’s hot up here, too. Hope our gift fits just right.
Hartley’s jaw dropped at his cheek, so she sent some cheek right back. Not as good as your personal gifts will fit, but I’m making do.
The three little dots indicating composition popped up immediately, making Hartley grin again in anticipation. We’ll give you ALL our gifts soon. That’s a promise.
Well, now you’re just being mean because soon is still days from now, she texted.
The dots popped up. Disappeared. Popped up again. Told you I was going to get my revenge, he wrote back.
Laughing despite herself, Hartley’s fingers flew. I want my certificate back.
Never, Jonathan replied.
Room service had just delivered when her phone vibrated again.
Cruz, this time. Hi, sweet girl. What a cruel image you’ve put into my head. He ended his message with a winky face.
Sorrynotsorry? I mean, that’s what happens when you make me put a toy in my ass and tell me I can’t come. She chose the sticking-a-tongue-out emoji to send back.
Aw, baby. I promise we’ll make it up to you. Sorrynotsorry.
“Aaah!” she cried out, grinning like a loon in the privacy of her hotel room. Because her men were thoughtful and sexy and funny. And for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel alone, even though in that moment, she was.
Jonathan and Cruz had done that for her, and in the process, they were working their way into her heart. It was perhaps the craziest, stupidest, riskiest thing she’d ever done to that particular organ, but more and more she resolved to take a leap—and to hope they caught her. Both of them.
Because she wasn’t sure she’d ever be this brave again if it didn’t work out.
Chapter Ten
Thursday night was the first night they’d been able to see each other after Hartley’s work trips, which explained why they lay in a sweaty, sated pile in her bed. Smiling at the mess of covers they’d flung to the floor, Hartley wondered if she could ever bring herself to wash their smell from these sheets.
While she’d been gone, they’d texted constantly and had more than a few late-night phone calls that had allowed her to get to know them even better. Like, that Cruz had a million cousins but no brothers or sisters, and that he’d been to every continent and had some of the most amazing travel stories she’d ever heard, and that he could solve a Rubik’s Cube in under five minutes—a thing which had earned him some fame among his shipmates, and not a little razzing, when they’d been in the navy.
Like, that Jonathan had been modest in describing his surfing, because he’d won the California state surfing championship his senior year of high school, and that his parents were total hippies who knew he co-owned a sex club and thought it was great, and that he couldn’t sing on key but could play the hell out of a guitar and loved to sing anyway—much to Cruz’s dismay.
Despite all of that, they’d obviously needed the physical reconnection, because the sex had been urgent and fast and breathtaking as the men took turns taking her. Laying on her side, Cruz would fill her pussy from behind, and then he’d pull out so Jonathan could fill her from the front. There’d been no talk of anal play, and the men had made her the center of it all. It’d made Hartley feel like she’d come home after a long, long time away. Longer even than just her trip.
“So much for the dinner I was supposed to make you guys,” she said, smiling at the men where they lay on either side of her.
“Food’s optional when the two of you are on the table,” Jonathan said, amusement plain in his voice.
She laughed, loving his playful nature.
Cruz’s low chuckle was more reserved. His intensity was one of the things she loved and craved about him, but sometimes he wore it like armor. Which she felt like he’d been doing since he’d walked through her door.
Worried, she turned into him and cupped his handsome face in her hand. “Hi,” she whispered.
“Hi,” he said.
Hartley kissed him, a soft press of skin on skin. “Are you okay?”
Something flashed behind those dark eyes, something that belied his answer. “Yeah.”
She kissed Cruz again as Jonathan moved to spoon her, his head on her shoulder so he could be a part of this. It was right where she wanted him. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“You can tell us,” Jonathan added.
Hartley nodded. “Please, Cruz?”
The expression on his face seemed full of shadows. “I love what we’ve found. The three of us.” He paused like he needed to think about the words, to pick and choose them carefully. “Hartley, you’ve given Jonathan and I things I never expected. The last few weeks, I’ve realized that some small part of me never truly believed it was possible to want two people—beyond sex—at the same time. But now I realized I was wrong. Because I want both of you. I need both of you.”
Relief flooded through her, because she’d experienced so much of the very same journey. “I feel the same way, Cruz—”
“Wait,” he said. “Please.”
“What is it, man?” Jonathan said, his tone serious and concerned.
Cruz scrubbed a hand over his face. “I…I talked to my parents.” He swallowed hard and pressed his fingers into his eyes.
“What? When?” Jonathan asked.
“Talked to them about what?” Hartley asked, pulling herself closer to Cruz and putting an arm around his waist, because he was radiating pain. And she honestly had zero idea how or why his parents would’ve put it there.
“I…I told them I’m bisexual.” His swallow made a tortured sound. “And I told them I cared about Jonathan as more than a friend.”
“Aw, Christ, Cruz,” Jonathan said, reaching a hand between them to take Cruz’s. “That was so fucking brave. What did they say?”
Hartley didn’t need to hear the words to know. None of them did. But she wanted to be there for him, because she knew they weren’t going to be good.
Cruz’s voice caught. “They said… Fuck.” He heaved a breath. “They said that I was going to hell. And that I wasn’t their son anymore.”
“Oh, my God, Cruz.” Tears sprung to Hartley’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, baby.” She wrapped herself around him.
Jonathan scrambled over her to Cruz’s back, putting him in the middle, and then he pulled the man against his chest. “That’s such bullshit, Cruz. And I’m so fucking sorry. We’ll be your family. And we’ll pray they come to their goddamned senses and realize you’re a man anyone would be proud to call their son.”
Wetness hit Hartley’s shoulder, and it made her tears fall, too. But they weren’t all tears of sadness. Some of them were tears of anger. Because why would anyone throw away their family? As someone who’d lost hers, she would never, ever understand that.
“Jonathan’s right. You are ours and we are yours. We choose you, Cruz. Do you hear me? We choose to love you. And we’ll do it over and over again. Every day.”
Emotion lodged a knot in Hartley’s throat, along with a little self-consciousness. Because she’d just admitted something in the heat of the moment that she hadn’t even fully admitted to herself. She didn’t just care about Jonathan and Cruz, she was falling in love with them.
Cruz pulled back, his eyes glassy and wide. “What did you just say?”
Hartley didn’t play coy. “That I…I’m falling in love wit
h you.” Heart hammering against her breast bone, she met Jonathan’s gaze next. “With both of you.”
“God, Hartley,” Jonathan said, his voice thick with emotion. “Being apart from you all week, after everything we shared…I’m feeling the same way.”
“Damn,” Cruz said, rolling onto his back between them. Both Hartley and Jonathan braced a hand on his chest, and the closeness felt so intimate. “That’s why I had to tell them, you know? I couldn’t hide something that’s becoming so important to me. I didn’t want to hide from anyone anymore. The two of you and what we’re building here is too important.”
Overwhelmed by the power of all these revelations, Hartley kissed Cruz. Softly, deeply, putting into actions everything her heart was starting to feel. She pulled back, smiling at the change in his expression. Gone was the tortured man from moments before, and in his place was someone who looked like he’d just shed the weight of the world.
“I wish you’d told me about your parents,” Jonathan said, leaning his face close to Cruz’s. “I would’ve been there for you. You shouldn’t have to carry that shit on your own.”
“Kiss me, Jay,” Cruz whispered. It started off soft, just as hers had, and then it quickly flashed hot, as if it were full of words they couldn’t say any other way.
When they broke apart, both men were breathing hard, and Cruz nailed her with a stare. “I’m sorry, but I gotta ask. I gotta hear it from you, Hartley. Face to face. Would you really be okay if our lovemaking—” He gestured to the three of them, then grabbed Jonathan’s hand and held it to his chest. “—included us being together, too?”
“Yes,” she said, not even needing to think about it. Her head and her body and even her heart had known from the beginning that Jonathan and Cruz were a package deal. Now, the three of them were. It was only right that they all love each other. And as much as she’d worried over engaging in such an unconventional relationship, it was hard to care how others would view it when it felt so right. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re together. In any way. In every way. All of us, equally.”
“I told you she was perfect for us,” Jonathan said, a little smile playing around his sexy mouth.
“You did.” Cruz blew out a breath. “I’m sorry I even asked. It was just, after my parents—”
“You don’t need to apologize,” Hartley said, aching for him anew. But she had an idea she hoped might begin to heal the wounds his parents had caused. An idea for how he might start to move on. And she wanted to be the one giving them a gift this time. “But please, let me prove that I mean what I say. That I accept all of you. All of us. Make love to each other. Right here, in my bed. Right now.”
* * *
Hartley’s gesture reached down into Cruz’s chest and branded her love onto his heart.
He’d already been falling for her because of how freely she laughed and her brave, adventurous spirit that allowed her not only to dive into this thing with him and Jonathan, but also to solo captain her catamaran all over the Atlantic—wanderlust was definitely something they had in common. Then there were the bittersweet stories of sailing adventures with her father, and the funny, endearing stories of homemade Halloween costumes she’d pleaded with him to make that she’d shared one night when they’d stayed up late talking on the phone. But even if he hadn’t learned all that and more about her, the acceptance she’d given him alone would’ve ensured she would always own a piece of it. Her and Jonathan.
“Only if I can have my mouth on you, too,” Cruz whispered to her, his pulse kicking up under his skin.
Her smile was so pretty as she tapped a finger against her lips. “Gee, let me think about that…” And damn if her playfulness didn’t further light him up inside.
Jonathan’s big hand cupped his cheek, turning Cruz’s face until their gazes met. “What do you want?”
“You,” Cruz said, simply. Plainly. For once, honestly. “I want you to fuck me while I eat out our girl. And I want you bare, nothing between us.” Because Jonathan had been right—Cruz had built a wall between them. A wall of fear, and maybe even a little shame. And even if he hadn’t overcome all the things that scared him, he wanted to be braver and stronger than that. He wanted to try. Because he had nothing left to lose, and only love to gain. And with Jonathan, Cruz knew he’d be safe. Not just because they got tested regularly as part of the club’s protocol, but because it was Jonathan. And Cruz would never doubt that man would have his back.
Jonathan kissed him again, spiking Cruz’s arousal. “I’m gonna make it so fucking good for you, Cruz.”
Hardly able to believe this was about to happen, Cruz could only nod.
Then Jonathan peered at Hartley. “Darlin’, where’s that lube we gave you?”
She was off the bed in an instant, a sexy, naked streak as she moved across the room to where her suitcase still sat unpacked. “Here it is,” she said, joining them again.
Shifting onto his stomach, Cruz patted the bed in front of him. “Put that sweet little ass right here, baby.” Smiling, she did just as he asked, her legs spread wide on either side of his shoulders. Cruz planted a hand against her belly and pushed. “Lay back. I’m gonna want to get all the way in there.” He winked.
Hartley bit her bottom lip, a thing that made Cruz want to growl. But then she leaned back against the pillows, opening herself to him fully. Just as he was doing for Jonathan, who straddled his thighs so that the long length of his hard cock rested against his ass.
A thrill of arousal lanced through Cruz. He’d played with a few submissives over the years who excelled at giving rim jobs and stimulating his prostate, though he’d never had a cock in his ass. But he needed Jonathan inside him too much to give into the nerves squeezing his gut.
Jonathan’s lips were suddenly at Cruz’s ear. “Make her come while I prep your ass.”
The command made him thrust his hips into the bed, the movement tormenting him with too little friction to give him everything he needed. “Gladly,” he said. And then Cruz filled the space between Hartley’s spread thighs with his shoulders, his hands and his mouth going right to her already wet pussy. He sucked hard at her clit, and found her sweet and ready.
She cried out and her hands flew to his head, scrabbling for purchase against his short hair. He craved her desperation. Wanted it to match the growing fervor of his own as Jonathan eased one slick finger into his ass.
Cruz moaned at the invasion. That it was Jonathan penetrating him made his cock swell and his balls ache. It drove Cruz harder, his tongue licking faster, more firmly, and one of his fingers slid into her pussy.
And then Jonathan added a second finger to his ass and moved them in a gentle in and out that made Cruz need more. And it also gave him an idea. He withdrew his hand from Hartley, wringing a whine out of her that made him smile. Then he reached back to Jonathan. “Coat my fingers good, Jay. I’m gonna work Hartley’s ass, too.”
“Good fucking idea,” Jonathan bit out, his voice full of dark arousal.
Cruz peered over his shoulder to find his best friend’s expression an absolute mask of raw desire, and it was fucking hot.
When his fingers were slick, Cruz arched a brow at Hartley. “You ready for a taste of what the three of us are going to do together someday soon?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice a raw scrape. “Show me.”
Holding her ass cheeks apart with one hand, he eased the middle finger of his other into her tightest hole. And when she seemed good with that, he slid his pointer finger into her pussy, too. Hartley cried out at the double penetration and wriggled her hips, and he sympathized with her torment, because just then, Jonathan slipped a third finger into Cruz’s ass.
“Fuuuck,” Cruz rasped, putting his mouth back to work on Hartley’s sweet pussy to distract himself from the stretching burn. He licked her and sucked her and nibbled at her, and all the while his fingers fucked her in a shallow in and out.
“I need in you now, Cruz. Jesus, I need it,” Jonathan ra
sped, penetrating him faster with that thick trio of fingers.
“Do it,” Cruz said, going at Hartley harder, needing her cum on his fingers and tongue. And then she gave it to him in a glorious clench of muscles, her whole body bowing.
“Cruz, God, coming!” she cried out, her pussy and ass pulsing around his fingers as her whole body writhed.
Before it was even over, Jonathan spread Cruz’s cheeks with one strong hand and lined his cock up with Cruz’s ass. And then slowly, so maddeningly slowly, he was taking the only thing Cruz had never given to another person.
The intensity of the sensation pulled a gut-deep groan out of him. “Aw, Christ, Jay.”
Jonathan smoothed his hand up Cruz’s back. “My cock looks fucking good sinking into your ass. And it feels even better.”
“You guys are so hot together,” Hartley said, lacing her fingers with Cruz’s free hand. Because he hadn’t withdrawn his fingers from her.
“Jesus,” Cruz moaned, unable to control the words spilling from his mouth. Because it hurt like hell, but the pain was like a fire that cleansed him of all the lies he’d told himself, all the masks he’d hidden behind. “Jesus, shit, Jesus. So fucking intense.”
But Cruz didn’t know the half of it, because just then, Jonathan withdrew almost to his tip before driving back in again. The stroke wrung a shout out of Cruz and had him involuntarily thrusting his cock against the bed.
“Another inch and you’ll have all of me,” Jonathan rasped. “You ready?”
“Shit, no,” Cruz bit out, half a chuckle in his tone.
“Yeah, you are,” Jonathan said. “We both are.” As he spoke, he bore down, down until every muscle in Cruz’s body braced against the impact of Jonathan bottoming out deep inside him. “There it fucking is.”
The grit in his lover’s tone eased the burn inside Cruz—only to give rise to a whole other burn, the searing heat of need. “Move in me. Christ, I need you to move.”
With that, Jonathan did. Slower at first, and then setting a steady rhythm that had him pulling almost all the way before plunging deep.
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