Dial M for Ménage (5 page)

Hunter.

They recognized each other at the same time. Liam half expected Hunter to turn around and walk away again. Instead, he strode toward Liam and didn’t stop until they stood face-to-face.

Hunter spoke first. “Why are you doing this? I know it’s not about a bullshit commercial holiday.”

Liam opened his mouth to answer, but pressed his lips together without speaking. He looked away, staring past Hunter’s shoulder until the gold-leaf pattern on the wallpaper blurred.

“Liam.”

“Everything I’ve ever done, I’ve done it to protect her.” He pulled his gaze back to Hunter’s face, expecting the hazel eyes Liam found so beautifully alive to be devoid of emotion. Liam’s breath stuttered in his chest.

Hunter had abandoned his stoic Marine persona, but after a moment he wrestled the illusion of control back into place. “She doesn’t need any protection from me.”

“You’re not the problem,” Liam said quietly.

“Neither are you, until you start trying to orchestrate everything. Haven’t you noticed how wound up she’s been, waiting for some solid information? She’s going to know something’s going on. I’m not going to lie to her. My new orders aren’t going to hurt her. But the two of us being assholes will, so we need to stop.”

Liam jerked a nod and walked toward the room they had booked for the night. Hunter followed, but Liam couldn’t forget the way Hunter had stalked out of the bar.

Chapter Five

Something was wrong. Kat hugged herself and paced the hotel suite, which was decorated in dusky shades of blue and cream with sage accents. Candlelight cast flickering shadows against the walls, their erratic patterns reflective of her anxiety. She mapped a jagged circle around the love seats arranged close together and reluctantly relinquished her hold on the pleasant buzz she’d acquired from the wine at dinner. The heavy sexual music she’d queued up on a satellite radio channel now rubbed her nerves raw.

The slit hem of her ankle-length negligee snaked around her legs, its narrow sapphire skirt not designed for such vigorous vertical activity. She’d had a low-level bad feeling for a couple of weeks now, but tonight the sense of doom stood front and center. Liam’s failure to answer her texts ramped her distress up to levels she could no longer ignore.

When she neared the door, she checked her phone again. Still no response, but she had now been waiting for close to an hour. Ordinarily she didn’t keep a running account of how much time Liam spent away from her but she had expected both he and Hunter would be eager to join her. The last time the three of them were together was the night in her office, and while that was both hot and imaginative, they had all three agreed Skype sex was only satisfying to a point.

Kat was about to throw her coat over her gown and go down to the bar to find them when she heard voices in the hall. Even through the heavy door, she recognized the pitch and cadence that distinguished Liam’s voice from Hunter’s. A measure of her tension receded. Trying to salvage the sexy, romantic atmosphere she had established, she hurried to arrange herself on the bed before Liam and Hunter opened the door.

As soon as they entered the room, however, she knew something had changed.

Tension flowed thick between the two men. Liam’s face was pale and he stared at the floor. Kat looked to Hunter for an answer. When his gaze met hers, something hungry devoured his stony expression. Heat shot across the room and caught her in a tight, uncomfortable grip.

Kat swallowed and forced her attention to Liam, who had half turned away and locked his hands behind his neck. Her voice came out calmer than she expected. “What’s going on?”

Liam opened his mouth but Hunter spoke first. “I have my new orders.”

Her stomach flipped. Hunter’s revelation didn’t explain Liam’s misery or the ferocity of Hunter’s stare. Swallowing, she slid to the edge of the bed. She needed the emotional stability of having her feet on the floor. “I don’t understand. Why is that a bad thing? We’ve been waiting for confirmation. Now we can make some solid plans.”

Hunter shrugged out of his coat and tossed it across the decorative antique sofa. Without speaking, he methodically worked through the buttons marching down the front of his dress shirt. Kat licked her lips and glanced at Liam, who stood with his arms loose at his sides, his attention focused on Hunter. The kind of hunger burning in Hunter’s eyes was mirrored in Liam’s, with one difference—where Hunter looked like he was going to feast on her, Liam looked like he wanted to devour Hunter.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Hunter threw his shirt on top of his coat and crossed the room to stand in front of her. Without asking permission, he plunged his hands into her loose hair and angled her head to receive his mouth.

Kat’s sense of trouble didn’t roll over and die but it did shift to make room for a rush of desire. Her lips parted for Hunter and she sought his tongue, not bothering with shyness. The three of them were long past that.

She sensed Liam before she felt him. The air around her charged with an angry grade of electricity. Hunter tensed when Liam touched him but he didn’t stop kissing her. If anything, he worked his way deeper into her mouth. His hands in her hair began to hurt. She flexed her fingers against his chest, pressing with her nails, giving some of the edge back to him.

Liam worked his hands between her and Hunter but instead of touching her, he worked at Hunter’s cock through the trousers Hunter still wore. Hunter groaned into her mouth and his body jerked, pressing Liam’s knuckles against the apex of her thighs. Raising up on her toes, she ground herself against Liam’s hand and the hardness beneath it.

Hunter tore his mouth from hers. He was breathing hard, his muscles tense. He looked down at Liam’s hand splayed across his groin and arousal flushed red across his cheekbones. Kat couldn’t help but stare, fascinated, as Liam traced Hunter’s shape through his pants. She backed up until she felt the bed behind her and then she sat, rapt.

Hunter was taller and broader than Liam. The way Liam stood behind Hunter, she could only see his arms, hands and the top of his golden head. Hunter stood, frozen, while Liam wrapped one arm across Hunter’s stomach in a tight embrace. Liam found the zipper hidden behind Hunter’s fly but instead of lowering it, he slid his hand down inside the waist of Hunter’s pants. Hunter bucked his hips at Liam’s touch.

Kat glanced up past Hunter’s tight brown nipples and the prominent tendons in his neck to watch his face. He stood with his eyes screwed shut and his lips flattened in a grimace of pleasure-pain, a primitive expression of self-denial. She’d forgotten how insanely hot Liam and Hunter made her when their sexual wills clashed. Not wanting to interrupt, she quietly sat on the edge of the bed and cupped her breasts. Her nipples stabbed at the lace that covered them. She massaged the sensitive mounds until they were achy globes of need, until Liam had Hunter’s cock out of his pants and gripped in his palm.

“I want to fuck you,” Liam said, breaking the panting silence. He squeezed his fist around Hunter’s rigid flesh. “I want to do it tonight.”

Kat’s stomach dropped in a mixture of dread and anticipation. She held her breath.

Without opening his eyes, Hunter said, “No.”

Liam’s hand stilled. “When?”

Hunter’s high color spread down his throat to his broad chest. When he opened his eyes, Kat knew she had to intervene.

“I don’t want to watch you fuck each other tonight,” she said, not telling the one-hundred-percent truth. She would love to do exactly that, but the undercurrents in the room told her this was not the night for it. And she was coming to know Hunter very well. He would need preparation, and he would need advance warning. She meant to work on that, had delicious ideas, but those ideas were for later.

For now...for now, Hunter needed a distraction from Liam’s unexpected aggression. Kat reached to brush her fingers across the back of Liam’s hand. He stilled at her touch. The arm he had banded around Hunter’s ribs loosened. Hunter visibly relaxed when Liam took a step back and moved into her line of sight.

She held out her hand and met Liam’s eyes, beckoning him. “Come be with me. I need you.”

Liam undressed without looking at Hunter. He came to her nude, comfortable with the way his body fit against hers, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he bore her down onto the bed. The long slit in her skirt allowed her to raise her knee and press her inner thigh against his hip. Liam slid his hand up her leg, pushing satin out of the way until he found the bare curve of her ass.

Kat held her eyes open and deliberately maintained eye contact, a smile on her lips just for Liam. “Kiss me.”

Holding himself above her on one elbow, he lowered his head and brushed his lips across the exposed upper swells of her breasts. Kat tangled her fingers in his short hair and held him while he took his time. Slow, deliberate, he mapped a damp trail to her shoulder, up the arch of her neck and behind her ear. His breath ruffled the fine hairs that curled there.

Hunter didn’t move from his position beside the bed. Kat watched him over Liam’s head. Hunter’s ferocity had given way to a vulnerable helplessness that made her chest ache. Unable to stand the distance Hunter kept, she pressed a kiss to Liam’s jaw and flattened her hands against his chest.

At her push, Liam raised his head to look down at her. “What do you want, K-K?”

She inhaled deeply, choosing her words with care. “I want us all to love each other.”

“We do.” Liam showed his heart in his voice when he whispered, “I love you both.”

Kat smiled. “We’re going to have to have an emergency meeting in the morning, aren’t we?”

Hunter spoke this time. “Yeah, we are.”

“But not until then.” Liam rose until he knelt between her legs, pinning the long skirt of her gown to the bed. Arousal thumped at her core but she tried to hold it at bay.

“Is waiting all right with you, Hunter?” Kat extended her arm, reaching for Hunter.

He stared at her outstretched hand for a minute before enfolding her fingers in his solid grip. “It can wait until morning.”

“Good, because I’ve changed my mind about watching the two of you.” She propped herself on her elbows and nudged Liam with her knee, urging him to move.

Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “Kat.”

She ignored the warning in his voice. “Will you get down on your knees for me, Hunter? Will you take Liam’s cock in your mouth?”

A groan rumbled in Liam’s chest. He rolled off her and thumbed the button on his pants. The dark fabric parted, revealing a thin arrow of dark blond hair. The waist of his navy silk shorts peeked above the zipper, which strained at the pressure of his erection.

Hunter hadn’t given her an answer. Kat watched him steadily, waiting for him to make up his mind. He swallowed and shifted his attention to Liam. Whatever Hunter saw in her husband, it made his breath hitch. He still held her hand. Kat pressed gently with her fingertips and gave a gentle tug, luring him closer to the bed.

Beside her, Liam sat up and swung his feet to the floor. He spread his knees and planted his feet wide, leaving space between them for Hunter’s broad shoulders. Kat’s pulse quickened and she wet her lips again as the memory of Liam’s flavor crossed her mind.

Without looking at her, Hunter knelt between Liam’s feet. Kat released a breath, unaware she’d been holding it until that point. Whatever had happened between Hunter and Liam...maybe it wasn’t irreparable. Not if Hunter was still willing to give this.

But Liam was in the mood to take, not receive. He spread his fingers on the bed at either side of his hips. “Unzip my pants and take out my dick.”

At the command, Hunter’s jaw worked. Kat half expected him to turn the tables and take over, but instead he silently lowered the zipper over the bulge of Liam’s cock. The flushed head parted the slit in Liam’s shorts. Fluid already gleamed at the tip.

This time, it was Hunter who licked his lips. It was a small action, one she didn’t think Hunter was even aware of, but her pussy clenched in response. She must have made some sound, because both Hunter and Liam looked at her.

Liam was the one who spoke. “Why don’t you help him out, K-K?”

She nodded and shifted position until she knelt beside Liam. Hunter rubbed his thumb across Liam’s crown and her husband sucked in a sharp breath.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Do it again.”

“If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right.” Hunter hooked his fingers in the waist of Liam’s pants and pulled. Liam lifted up on cue, Hunter stripped Liam down to his ankles, where he was stopped by Liam’s shoes.

With an impatient grunt, Hunter pried Liam’s shoes off his feet and tossed them aside. Within seconds, Liam was naked from the waist down and Hunter was between his legs again. Kat moved, pressing the fronts of her thighs and her breasts to Liam’s back. She reached over his shoulders and slipped the buttons that marched down the front of his shirt. Within seconds, she had bared his chest and stomach. His cock jutted from a thicket of red-gold hair. Kat fanned her hands across his stomach and resisted the urge to take his length between her palms. Tonight, that was Hunter’s honor.

If Liam’s shallow, quick breaths were any indication, Hunter was already doing a bang-up job and he’d barely even touched Liam. Kat closed her eyes and kissed Liam’s shoulder. Her nipples were tight knots against his smooth muscles, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinding her mound against him. She couldn’t work up enough pressure to achieve any degree of satisfaction, but Liam’s chuckle told her he knew what she was up to. And then his groan told her what Hunter was up to.

She opened her eyes in time to watch Hunter engulf Liam’s cock, Hunter’s lips stretched thin around her husband’s girth. Liam’s thighs flexed, his abs tightened, and his head dropped back against her shoulder. Kat traced delicate circles around Liam’s nipples while Hunter sucked at him with great, deep swallows. He didn’t play gently the way she would have done, at least to start. Hunter went straight to the meat of the action, his cheeks hollowing with the force of his suction, his knuckles white where he gripped Liam’s thighs.

Liam held fistfuls of the comforter. The tendons in his neck stood out as Hunter clamped his lips tight and drew back until only the head remained in his mouth. He sucked strongly at Liam’s flared tip and worked his hand up and down the shaft, short, rough strokes that made Kat wince but made Liam shake with pleasure.

“Christ,” Liam gasped. Kat looked away from Liam’s face to catch Hunter with his hand tucked below Liam’s sac. Hunter’s wrist flexed with the motion of his fingers. He could only be doing one thing in that position. The knowledge of it drove Kat’s hand between her thighs.

She was enraptured by Hunter’s expression, determination and hunger that was currently being satisfied by Liam’s cock. She rubbed the slinky fabric of her gown between her slick folds, moaning as the wet material caught on her clit.

“He’s close,” she breathed, eager for the moment of release. She wanted to watch Hunter swallow every creamy jet as Liam pumped into his mouth. And after, she wanted to taste Liam’s essence on Hunter’s tongue.

She didn’t have long to wait. Liam cursed again and tore his hands from the comforter only to grip Hunter’s head. With a grunt of determination, Liam pulled Hunter close and drove his cock deep into Hunter’s mouth, so deep Hunter tensed to fight the invasion. Hunter’s lightning reflexes weren’t enough, however, and a heartbeat later, Liam jerked in Kat’s arms. Spine arching, he came hard. Hunter’s Adam’s apple bobbed over and over again as he swallowed, and Kat had to pull her hand from between her legs before she brought herself to orgasm.