Dial M for Ménage (3 page)

“I’m ready for her now.” Liam’s ragged voice revealed things in a way his open admission didn’t.

“You already reached your limit?” Challenge underlined Hunter’s question.

“Nope. I’m good.” Liam released his cock and placed his hands on the arms of his chair.

Even with the sketchy lighting and angles of the camera, Kat could see the whites of his knuckles as he squeezed the armrests. She shook her head and dug her fingernails into Hunter’s scalp. “Do I get a say? Because if I do—”

“You don’t.” Liam cut her off with a wicked smile. “Right now, I’m too busy enjoying how pink and wet you are. I wish I could see better, though.”

“I’m a master of making things happen,” Hunter said. He pressed his thumbs and forefingers into the muscles of her legs, hard enough to make Kat jump, before loosening his hold and running his palms up her inner thighs.

“And it’s a huge fucking turn-on.” Liam gripped his cock again just as Hunter’s hands met between Kat’s legs.

Needing control of something, and knowing she would lose it totally if Hunter touched her while she watched Liam stroke himself, Kat tipped her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. Gravity dropped abruptly and she stiffened with a surprised yelp.

“I’ve got you.” Hunter kissed the side of her neck, his late-night beard deliciously rough against her skin. “I still have both feet on the ground. But this chair is fucking tiny. Hold still so you don’t dump us on the floor.”

Hunter’s reassurance roused a secret fear that she and Liam no longer had their feet on the ground, while Hunter was still all too aware of reality and the obstacles in store for them. She didn’t want to think about that, though. Not while she was so intimately aware of every hot, solid inch of Hunter beneath her. His well-worn jeans had looked soft, but the denim felt scratchy against her bare thighs and his fly, stretched taut by the strength of his erection, hit her bottom in uncomfortable ways. She shifted, trying to find a better angle, and Hunter tapped her leg.

“I said hold still.” Without any more warning, he slid his thumbs into her folds and parted them. A strangled breath caught in her throat and all the way over in Las Vegas, Liam groaned.

“I want to taste you so bad right now,” Liam said. “If I were there, I would stab my tongue into your pussy and lick deep until you came in my mouth. Christ, Hunter. You should see this.”

“I have my own good view.” Hunter slicked his fingertips through her wetness, tracing the channels between her inner and outer seams.

Kat whimpered as he skimmed close to her entrance and her inner muscles flexed with need. She had a sinking feeling Liam and Hunter would be happy to play this game all night. She, however, wanted more. Now. “Which one of you do I have to beg?”

“When have we ever made you beg?” Liam asked. “Hunter, show me her clit. She gets impatient sometimes and I want to know if she’s really ready, or if she’s just trying to rush us.”

“Her pussy’s soaked.” Hunter dipped his fingers inside her and pressed deep with one agonizingly slow thrust. Before Kat could clamp down and hold him there, he slid away. “Swollen too.”

“I want to see her clit. Show me.” The forceful note in his voice pushed Kat closer to the edge. Grinding her back teeth together, she braced herself for the pleasure-pain she knew was coming.

Hunter surprised her with a gentle touch, little more than a nudge and light pressure as he held her open for Liam’s approval—which Liam delivered with a muttered curse. Both men went silent and Kat counted the seconds as they ticked by.

When she couldn’t stand it anymore, she growled her frustration. “I’m going to get you for this.”

“Kitty-Kat, you got me a long time ago.” Liam went quiet for another minute before adding, “You both did.”

Hunter stiffened but relaxed with his next breath. “If I don’t get inside her, I’m going to come in my pants. How do you want it?”

Kat opened her mouth to answer but Liam spoke first and she realized the question was meant for him, not her.

“K-K, turn around and straddle him. I want to see his dick driving up into you.”

Hunter’s muscles flexed and an instant later, Kat sat upright again. The Skype window showed Liam with his shirt gone, both hands working his cock, and beads of perspiration glistening at his temples. She forgave him instantly. As much as his long-distance game tortured her, he was suffering alone in a hotel room.

Behind her, she heard Hunter shucking his clothes and tearing open a condom wrapper. Unwilling to leave any of them waiting much longer, Kat turned her back on Liam per his request. Hunter sank onto the chair and helped her crawl on top of him. His thick erection speared upward between them, beckoning her.

“Tilt the chair back again,” Liam said.

Hunter wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her as he tipped backward per Liam’s instruction. When her eyes met his, she recognized something that made her heart skip a beat.

In his own way, Hunter was finally relinquishing some of his control to Liam. As Hunter palmed her hips and positioned her over his cock, Kat cradled his head between her hands and slanted her lips across his. While she poured all her desire and appreciation into the kiss, he rocked up into her.

Liam’s breath grew ragged. Hunter slid his hands over her ass and gripped the backs of her thighs, leaving her free to set the pace. Dropping her head to Hunter’s shoulder, Kat focused on driving all three of them to the same climax.

When her thighs started to quiver, Hunter took over. With one arm banded behind her back and the other behind her hips, clamping her stomach against his, he drove his hips up in a hard, determined rhythm. The unrelenting closeness and Hunter’s unforgiving pace created a powerful friction. Kat gasped against his skin as the first ripple of orgasm seized her muscles.

Liam’s grunt let her know he was right behind her and Kat surrendered to the release. Hunter grabbed her hips and dragged her down to him in half a dozen short, hard bursts before he let go as well. Seconds later, the only sounds were three separate, erratic breathing patterns. Kat rubbed her face against Hunter’s shoulder and drew in a deep breath of his earthy masculine scent, which was so different from Liam’s light designer-cologne spice. Over the past two months, she’d become accustomed to their mingled scents. No amount of physical satiation could fill the emotional need to have both men together, with her.

Needing a piece of Liam, she disentangled herself from Hunter and slid off the chair.

“I feel like I’ve been awake forever. I’m exhausted,” she said, breaking the silence. She was aware of both men watching her as she scooped her discarded shirt off the floor, turned it right side out, and slipped it over her head. Liam’s familiar scent enveloped her immediately.

“Go get in bed,” Liam said. “I love you.”

Hunter didn’t move except to stretch and extend his legs out in front of him. “I’ll shut everything down and turn off the light when we’re finished.”

“All right. You two enjoy your virtual pillow talk.” Kat blew a kiss to Liam and brushed her fingertips over Hunter’s biceps on her way out of the room.

* * *

Hunter braced his bare feet on the floor and leaned back as far as Kat’s flimsy desk chair would allow. Liam excused himself and stepped out of camera range for a couple of minutes. When Liam came back, he had discarded his shirt. Neither man spoke until Hunter heard Kat start the shower in the master bathroom. When he was sure Kat wouldn’t overhear anything, Hunter inclined his head to Liam’s image on the monitor.

“I’m not going to lie,” Hunter said, picking up the thread of conversation Liam had brought up over the phone. “I’m not the Valentine’s Day type. Do you have a plan?”

Liam leaned forward and pointed a finger at Hunter. “That’s because you’ve never done it right.”

With a sigh, Hunter ran a hand through his hair. “This is going to be an annual problem, isn’t it?”

“You wait. Valentine’s Day done right is going to blow your mind.” Liam braced his elbows on the arms of his chair. “It’s all in the planning. I was thinking about a short cruise. Are you able to go away for a few days?”

“Not for anything like that. There are restrictions on how far I can travel without approval from my CO.”

“Shit. I was hoping that wouldn’t be a problem. We’ll have to stay local.”

Hunter shrugged. “Sometimes simple is good. How much sightseeing are we really going to do in the middle of February, anyway? Make reservations at her favorite restaurant and we’ll end the night here.”

Liam scoffed. “The same way we do every weekend? No. Kat will expect something different for Valentine’s Day. Room service in the morning, and someone else to deal with the mess we leave behind.”

Hunter didn’t believe Kat would
expect
anything, but he recognized determination when he saw it. Liam was dead set on arranging something elaborate whether Kat wanted it or not. Hunter tilted his chair upright and reached for the computer mouse.

“Look, this is beyond me and I have to drive back to D.C. at the ass crack of dawn. Keep it within a fifty-mile radius and let me know when I need to be where,” Hunter said.

Liam narrowed his eyes. “You really don’t have any input?”

Shrugging, Hunter prepared to close out the Skype window. “Romantic vacation planning isn’t really part of my skill set. You know the area better than I do now. Make the arrangements and send me the details. I’ll be there.”

“Fair enough. Will you be available for a weekend or only an overnight? Valentine’s Day is a Friday.”

“I can do the weekend, I just have to stay close to HQ.”

“Noted. I’ll get in touch with the details in a day or two.” Liam straightened and reached for his laptop.

“Take care, man.” Hunter clicked out and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.

The long-distance shit got on his nerves. With the slower pace of the holidays a distant memory, he was glad Kat and Liam had pushed to relocate when he got his new orders. He still had doubts about their ability to adapt to the often nomadic lifestyle of a military family but he couldn’t deny the fact that being apart would destroy their chances at making something together. It was bad enough coordinating between D.C. and Baltimore. Add in Liam’s business trips, which Kat explained could be frequent depending on project timing, and the situation grew exponentially more complicated. Better to have Liam and Kat with him. They were trading one problem for another, but Hunter knew from experience that obstacles were best managed face-to-face instead of across state lines. Eventually they were going to have to deal with their separate living quarters.

Correction.
He
was going to have to deal, and figure how to balance the privacy he needed for his military aspirations with the intimacy his relationship would need to thrive.

After shutting down Kat’s computer, Hunter stood and made his way down the hall. The master bedroom stood directly opposite the guest room. He had spent plenty of time in the bed Kat and Liam shared, both fucking and sleeping, but only by direct invitation, and usually with all three of them either starting or ending in the bed. This was the first time he had spent the night alone with one and he stood paralyzed between the two open doors.

Both the guest and master bedrooms were dark. Hunter held himself still and slowed his breath as he listened for signs that Kat was still awake. If she called out to him, he would go to her. If she didn’t stir, he would sleep in the guest room.

Hunter started a mental countdown from one hundred and clasped his hands behind his neck. A wall sconce positioned at the top of the stairs cast golden light down the hall. Framed photographs hung at eye level. There were a few wedding pictures but for the most part, they were nature and city shots capturing scenery instead of people. Tropical sunsets and snow-capped mountains told him about the life Kat and Liam had led while Hunter was stationed in various locations around the world. One of the wedding pictures was an artistic close-up of joined hands, black and white except for the vibrant gold of their wedding rings. That one drew him but he resisted its call, instead focusing on a shot of Niagara Falls. None of the photographs were dated, but he didn’t need the dates to tell him how much he had missed after he turned away from his desire for Liam. Hunter didn’t regret his time with the Marines. The Corps had given him more than job training. In service, he had found purpose, something bigger than whatever shit life had awaited him as an average student without a calling. Given the opportunity to choose again, he would still choose the Marines.

But he would also face his need for the two people he’d run from. And he would fight for his place in the triad they offered.

Exhaling, he dropped his hands and turned his back on the guest bedroom. It was time to stop waiting for something to come along and sever their ties. The Marines had taught him how to fight for what he believed in, to turn fear of failure into a drive to succeed. Since he had no intention of failing in this opportunity to be with the man and woman he loved, he had to ensure success. No more second-guessing his status, which had fuck-all to do with whose names were on deeds or marriage certificates.

When he slid onto the bed and pulled Kat’s warm, sleepy softness into his arms, he was confident in his right to do so.

Chapter Three

The day after he returned from Vegas, Liam parked in the cramped lot of the 7-Eleven across the street from the Woodlawn Library. The convenience store’s double doors swung open and a pack of teens spilled out onto the narrow sidewalk outside the store. Liam glanced at the digital clock on his car’s console. Too early for the nearby high school’s lunch period. Maybe in another neighborhood, the convenience store clerk would have called the cops to report the kids for truancy.

The teens split into two separate groups, one leaving the lot and the other taking up a post beside the Redbox machine a few feet away from his parking space. Instead of getting out of the car, Liam watched them from behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses.

High school fashion had changed over the years but social dynamics had stayed the same. A young girl, maybe a sophomore, rubbed her hands together and stomped the sidewalk with her knee-high sheepskin boots. Her legs were bare from her knees to the frayed hems of her denim short-shorts and her pale skin was flushed pink from the vicious windchill. One of the boys casually threw an arm around her shoulder and drew her up against his skinny body. She didn’t smile but she did cast a quick look to make sure the other girls in the group had noticed her claimed status.

He sighed. Ten years from now, that girl would still be holding her value up against the same social measuring stick. No matter who told her she could be more, deserved to be more, she would keep doing what she knew how to do. Liam recognized the signs. He’d watched them evolve in his foster sister.

Shaking his head, Liam grabbed his phone and checked for texts from Kat. Three unread messages popped up on the screen.

I
need to get out of personal fashion and into interior decorating.
The text was accompanied by a photo of a phallic-shaped brass lamp spearing up into a pink shade with a black feathered fringe. Liam chuckled and scrolled to the next message.

Hunter called.
He has a couple hours free and wants to meet for lunch since I’m in the area.
Join us???

The third message was a single word—his name—and a series of question marks. Before Kat could text again, he started composing a reply. He deleted three different complex lies before settling on a simple half truth.

Can’t
, he texted.
Meeting in 5
,
might take the rest of the day.
See you when you get home.

Liam sent the message and turned off his phone. He triple-checked the locks and armed the alarm before he climbed out of the car and jogged across the street to the library. The parking lot behind the library was full of minivans and mom-style SUVs. Yellow school buses lined up on the hill above the library lot, waiting for the high school to let out early due to the possibility of snow. There was enough room for his car, but he’d elected to park across the street in order to avoid school traffic.

Circling around to the Storyville entrance, he thought about Jen’s living arrangements with disgust. She and her boyfriend were renting one half of a tall, skinny red brick duplex. The kitchen was outdated, the windows leaked cold air and the pipes froze whenever the temperature dropped below twenty degrees, which seemed to be every day this winter. The frozen pipes and unreliable heat frequently drove Jen and her toddler to take daytime shelter at the mall or the library, where they passed time waiting for her older kids to get out of school. And where Jen spent more money than she could afford on God only knew what.

As Liam opened the door, the frigid wind bit at the back of his neck and guilt flashed through him. He and Kat didn’t see eye to eye on the matter of Jen’s issues. Where Liam saw a woman who had never been able to rise above the crap she’d been dealt, Kat saw a woman who had always been given a handout instead of a hand up. The thin slip of paper tucked inside his wallet suddenly felt like a five-thousand-dollar sack of bricks.

Hell, maybe Kat was right. Maybe Liam did enable Jen’s lifestyle.

The neatly dressed young man stationed at the check-in desk cut into Liam’s revelation. “Can I help you?”

“I’m meeting my sister and her kid.” Liam glanced to his right, past the black iron gate that kept unauthorized adults out of the play area while also keeping unpredictable toddlers from running amok. When he didn’t see Jen or his niece in the immediate vicinity, he looked back at the clerk. “I don’t have my phone on me. Do you have any way to call people to the desk?”

Before the librarian could respond, a high voice squealed, “Unk-eem! Unk-eem!”

Liam stepped away from the desk and grinned at the little girl running up to the gate. Her short, stubby brown pigtails bobbed in loosely wrapped rubber bands. He hunkered down to her level and squeezed the little hand she shoved between the gate’s bars. “Hey, peanut. Where’s your mommy?”

His niece, Trina, clung to his hand and turned her whole body to look for Jen. Liam followed her gaze but didn’t see Jen’s thin face among the clusters of parents and children moving from one play station to the next.

“Mommy had the phone,” Trina said. She aimed her velvety brown eyes up at him. “Play with me?”

Liam spotted Jen walking down a set of stairs that led to an upper-level play area. True to Trina’s word, Jen’s cell phone was glued to her ear. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she glanced at the other kids and parents, looking for Trina but, by the casual expression she wore, unconcerned by her inability to immediately spot the little girl.

Jen noticed him a moment later and winced. She ended her phone call and dropped the phone into the depths of the giant designer purse slung over her shoulder. “Sorry,” she said when she reached the gate. “I lost track of time.”

“Let’s play,” Trina said, tugging on Liam’s hand.

Behind him, a finger of cold air stole inside behind a young woman with three kids in tow. Liam glanced at the little family, which overflowed with boisterous energy, and shook his head. He smiled down at Trina. “How about we go have lunch instead?”

Her eyes lit up. “Yes!”

“It’s kind of early for lunch.” Jen tugged at the hem of her thick green sweater. “We still have another hour here before they kick us out.”

“I’m hungry.” Trina clutched Liam’s fingers in her fist and tried to work the gate latch with her other hand.

Jen sighed but reached down to open the gate. Trina squeezed through the opening before it was big enough for her little body and threw herself against Liam’s legs. While he scooped his niece high and carried her to the peg that held her coat, Jen checked out with the librarian. Liam was zipping Trina’s coat—not much thicker than a sweatshirt—up to her chin when Jen joined them.

“Lunch is going to throw off our schedule,” Jen complained while slipping her arms into a red wool peacoat. She pulled a pair of gloves out of her purse.

Liam patted Trina’s pockets but didn’t turn up any gloves or mittens. Suppressing a frown, he removed his scarf and tucked it around her neck before picking her up again. He finally gave Jen his attention. “I rearranged my entire schedule to meet you. You can deal with a side trip to...” He glanced at Trina. “Where do you want to eat, peanut?”

“Nuggets.” Trina pronounced her choice without a moment’s hesitation.

He raised an eyebrow and grinned at her. “That doesn’t narrow things down very much. Do you want broccoli nuggets? Or vitamin nuggets?”

Trina squealed her disgust. Jen just shook her head and started for the door. Liam held his irritation at bay and followed her to her car, which held Trina’s car seat.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them sat on hard plastic benches and faced each other across a mess of cardboard containers and plastic cups. Trina knelt on the bench beside Liam and made a big show of demonstrating the correct dipping technique.

Jen jabbed her straw into her diet soda. “I have to pick up the other kids at one. The school called. They’re getting out early because of the snow. The city schools are a pain in my ass. They close if the wind blows and don’t care who has to miss work because of it.”

“What difference does it make? Did you suddenly get a job?” Liam offered his waffle fries to Trina, who promptly dipped one in a glob of ketchup.

Jen sighed. “Don’t you start, too. I get enough of it from Mike.”

“You need to be able to support yourself and your kids.” Liam did his damnedest to speak the truth without criticism but Jen, who bounced from one critical man to another, looked away with a frustrated snort. Because Kat was right, Liam persisted. “You do, Jen. The kids are getting older. What are you going to do when they start objecting to the life you lead? What are you going to do when they start working to drive your latest boyfriend away?”

“They know better.”

“Like we knew better? Come on. You remember how it was.”

When she didn’t say anything else, Liam knew she really did remember. He and Jen spent two years fostered to a widow who cycled through boyfriend after boyfriend. Some of the men were better than others but none of them were good enough to want to put up with two teenagers who weren’t their own flesh and blood.

“My kids aren’t schemers like we were,” she said.

It was Liam’s turn to snort. “You wait. Better yet, don’t wait. It’s time for you to get your sh—” He glanced at Trina before continuing. “Your act together. I’m not going to be available forever.”

Her face paled and she looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Kat and I are moving soon. The details aren’t final yet, but we won’t be in Maryland.”

“You just bought a house.” Jen reached over and wiped ketchup off Trina’s mouth. “What are you going to do with the house?”

“Rent it for a while, probably.”

She crumpled the napkin and narrowed her eyes at him. “Were you even going to offer it to me?”

“No.” But that wasn’t quite the truth. The thought had crossed his mind but he knew Kat would veto the idea, and he wouldn’t be able to blame her. Jen had a habit of skipping out on the rent and leaving a trashed apartment in her wake. He didn’t know how long or how far Hunter would lead them away from Baltimore, but in his heart, Liam knew they would return. Maryland was Hunter’s home as much as it was Liam and Kat’s home. The house in Hampden might end up being their only anchor until Hunter retired. He didn’t want to return to whatever damage Jen and her kids and her boyfriends would leave behind.

“I’m pregnant again.”

Liam closed his eyes. “Christ, Jen.”

“What’s that?” Trina asked.

“Finish eating, baby girl,” Jen said.

Liam shut down his lecture before he could get started on it. He pulled his wallet from his pants pocket and pulled out the check he’d written, made out for the full amount of his poker table winnings from the Vegas business trip. “This is it.” He looked her square in the eye. “I mean it. Get your life together. And buy Trina a damned coat that isn’t a sweatshirt.”

She palmed the check without a moment’s hesitation, as Liam had expected she would. Jen wasn’t one to turn down financial help. But apparently financial help wasn’t all she wanted.

Lowering her voice, like that would keep Trina from hearing, she said, “I want you and Kat to take it.”

“Take what, Mommy?”

Shaken, Liam didn’t know what to say to Jen. What the hell could he say to a bomb like that? He gave his full attention to Trina instead, and an awkward, stilted silence stretched between him and Jen for the rest of the meal.