Authors: Marie Carnay
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Women's Fiction, #Contemporary Women, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Holidays, #Military, #New Adult & College, #Contemporary Fiction, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery & Suspense, #Suspense
“About me and Summer?” Blake rolled his eyes.
Here we go again.
It was still the same after all these years. Devin gets first dibs. Devin calls the shots. Devin runs the show. “Maybe I’m sick of being second fiddle.”
“What?”
“Don’t you remember what it was like before? You were always first in line. Coming up with ways to hang out with Summer alone. Leaving me in the dust. I was just a sidekick to the two of you.”
His best friend cocked his head. “No, you weren’t. It was equal. The three of us. We were the fucking musketeers.”
Blake ran his finger over a scratch in the counter. “Didn’t seem that way to me.”
“So what? You slept with her to even the score?”
Anger flashed through Blake and he snapped back without thinking. “No, you asshole. I slept with her because I love her.”
As soon as the words slipped out, everything stopped. Devin’s mouth hung half open, Blake’s hand froze on the counter.
After a beat, Devin stepped back. “You what?”
Blake licked his lips and looked Devin in the eye. “I love her.” Saying it the second time didn’t seem so insane. It was the truth, even if it took him four years to admit it. “Don’t you?”
Devin retreated until his ass hit the counter. His chest swelled as he stared at Blake. It seemed like forever. Both of them watching each other. Letting the past four years fall away to find the truth.
At last, Devin exhaled and his chest deflated. “Yeah. I—I think I do. But—”
“But what?”
His best friend broke eye contact and toed a scuff on the floor. “Do you think she feels the same?”
Blake thought about the two of them on the beach. How she melted into him. How a current of emotion dragged her closer with every breath. “Yeah. She does.”
“You think she’ll ever admit it?”
“That she’s in love with us?” Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s worth it to try.”
Devin nodded and pushed himself off the counter. He picked up his beer and drank half of it without a pause.
For four years, they’d never gone there. Never talked about what Summer meant to them. Whether she was the one they couldn’t live without or just what might have been. But there they were, standing in the kitchen with her showering down the hall. Finally honest with each other.
“How much does she know?”
The question caught Blake off-guard. “About what? You and Ivy?”
“No.” Devin drained the rest of the beer and tossed it in the trash. “What happened when she left.”
Blake swallowed. “Nothing, I think.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
“I don’t know, Dev. She hates secrets. Maybe we should tell her.”
“No. We all agreed. She never needed to know.”
Blake frowned. That’s not how it should go. If Devin loved her, he’d see that. “What if it gets out? What if she hears from someone who’s not us?” Blake could see the look on her face already. Hurt. Anger. It’d be a disaster.
“That’ll never happen.”
He exhaled through his nose. “I hope to God you’re right.”
* * *
SUMMER
“You can do this.” Summer looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and forced herself to breathe.
Blake and Devin.
The first time around, it’d been fun. Playful. Hanging out at the bar until close. Splashing in dark ocean water at night. Friends. Lovers. Not real life. But now?
They ran a business and were about to open their own bar. All Summer’d managed was an apartment her mom paid for and a handful of exhibits around the city. Nothing like the pair of them. They’d moved on. Grown up. And Summer?
She glanced down at her hands and the faint smudge of crimson still on her palm. According to Ivy, she was nothing more than an interloper. Back to mess to it all up.
Was she right? Summer raised her head to examine her reflection. The girl who’d tied her hair up in a topknot, yanked on an apron, and carried trays full of beer and wine all summer in Midnight Cove was gone. In her place was a woman.
One just as confused as ever. A single night with Blake and Devin all those years ago and she’d ran. Because she felt herself falling into way more than friendship. More than lust. She’d been falling in love.
Summer closed her eyes and saw the beach. Her toes curling in the sand while Blake ran his hands up her hips. His hot breath tickling her ear as he thrust inside her. His body crushing her against the rock. Muffled screams as she came.
And Devin. His fingers lacing through her hair. His thighs shaking as he released deep in her throat. His kisses so desperate and raw. She gripped the edge of the sink and opened her eyes.
It wasn’t college anymore. This wasn’t a pit stop on the way to real life. They were down the hall, right now. Waiting for her. And she loved them.
She blinked and the green eyes in the mirror blinked with her.
I love them. I’m in love with them.
The words bounced around in her head and part of her wanted to scream.
You can’t! You can’t love two men!
But her heart didn’t care. Her muse didn’t care. She’d spent four years painting the ghost of Blake and Devin on every canvas. Acrylic. Oil. Mixed media. Didn’t matter the form, the image was always the same.
Midnight Cove. Empty and longing. The men she’d left behind with a piece of her heart.
Her eyes widened and she smiled as she thought of the painting drying upstairs. The new one that didn’t showcase faded memories. It wasn’t a mediocre landscape. It was her fucking soul. All because of Blake and Devin.
Damn it
. Could she upend her whole life and date two men? Did they even want to?
Summer flicked off the light and opened the door. There was one way to find out.
* * *
BLAKE
The door opened in the hallway and Blake cut Devin off with a wave of his hand. The last thing they needed was Summer hearing them argue over her.
Keeping secrets, telling the truth—whatever choice they made—it didn’t matter right then. Not when she was padding down the hall in bare feet, wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts. The fabric barely skimmed her thighs and she yanked it down with one hand to keep from flashing them everything.
Blake grinned. “You don’t have to hide from us, you know.”
Her cheeks flushed and Blake’s tension eased. “I know. It’s just—I—”
Devin reached for her and she let the t-shirt go to take his hand. He tugged her close, lips grazing her cheek as he whispered in her ear.
Blake’s jealously flared hot, but as Summer glanced up with big eyes and parted lips, he forced the green monster back down. If he was going to share with Devin, he needed to accept it. Come to terms with moments like that. Whether he was a witness or not.
Besides, he’d done the same without a second’s thought. He remembered the way she moaned out her release and he stepped forward. Hands on bare thighs. Sliding higher and higher. So soft. Silky. Still warm from the shower.
He curled his fingers around her hips and eased his body closer. “What’s Devin been whispering in your ear, hmm?”
Summer’s head fell back onto Blake’s shoulder and he kissed her cheek. “He reminded me how much better two men can be.”
Blake smiled and his dick throbbed to life. His best friend had a point. Sex was better with the three of them together.
He eased his fingers beneath the t-shirt and around the front of her hips. All that moist skin begging to be caressed. Kissed. Blake leaned down and kissed Summer’s ear. Neck. Jaw.
She angled her head and he found lips. Lush and full and so damn kissable. His hands slinked up her body on auto-pilot and before he knew it, her nipples were hardening against his palms.
Damn
. Up and down, around and back again. Little circles against the tight, rosy buds he wanted to suckle all night. Summer arched her back and Devin reached out. He peeled the t-shirt off her body and over her head and Summer’s chestnut tresses fell around her shoulders as the shirt landed on the floor.
Yes
. Naked and willing. Turned on and ready. Blake would never get tired of her. Never be sick of the way the three of them fit together so well. He looked up as he twirled her nipples between his fingers and met Devin’s stare. Fire. Passion. Lust and love for the woman between them.
It was all there reflected right back. They might fight over her affection. Vie to be the first kiss of the night. But she was more than enough for both of them. She was Summer.
Devin captured her lips with his and Summer pulled away from Blake.
Mmm
. From his vantage point, her round, soft ass teased him and he reached out to stroke her. She shivered at his touch and Blake grinned.
So sexy
.
As he ran his hands up and down her hips and around her ass, she fumbled with Devin’s clothes. Tugging on his shirt. Unbuttoning his pants. He stripped while she touched him all over. Hands on his chest and abs. Up over his shoulders as he kissed her.
When Devin’s pants fell to the floor, Summer reached out and touched his cock. Blake bit back a groan as he watched her stroke Devin’s hard length. He wanted to be the one in front of her. Devin reached for her legs and in an instant, she was airborne.
She cried out as he hoisted her up, louder as Devin impaled her on his shaft. Blake groaned. Every time was better than the last.
* * *
SUMMER
Oh my God
. It was one thing to drop to her knees and take Devin’s cock inside her mouth. But to have him pick her up—like she weighed nothing—and thrust inside her? Altogether different.
Summer hooked her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and Blake slid up behind. His hands gave her support—a pair of buoys beneath her thighs—as Devin rocked her in his arms.
Wow
. One man thrusting, gentle and slow, like waves on a calm ocean. One touching and kissing and driving her wild from behind.
She thought of the little red boat she’d painted upstairs and reached behind her. She wanted Blake, too. Not one at a time like last time. Both of them. Together.
It’s what she’d been dreaming about for four years. The crush of both her men. Cocks filling her up. Making her soar. She ran her fingers over his short hair and turned to whisper in his ear. “I want you, too. Fuck me, Blake. Right now.”
Devin grunted and looked up. “You heard her, strip.” He gripped her thighs tight and spun them both around to find a barstool. It was narrow and flat—curved wood without a back. Perfect for this. While Devin stroked her skin and thrust inside her, Blake undressed. Clothes hit the floor one after the other and Devin spread her legs to take her deeper.
Cabinets opened and shut behind her.
What the…?
Before she could ask, Blake was back, stepping up and slipping his hands around her hips. He tugged her back until Devin’s thighs hit the barstool and her ass hung off the end. The wood supported and left her exposed in all the right places.
She groaned with pleasure as Blake stroked her ass, coating her backside in something slippery and wet. Cooking oil? Lotion? She didn’t care. It meant he was serious.
A thrill rushed through her as he circled a finger around her puckered hole.
Yes! Please!
As Blake leaned close, he eased his finger inside, higher and higher until his knuckles grazed her ass.
Ah!
He pumped and the moan of satisfaction from his throat had her relaxing back into him.
“You’re sure you want this?” He pumped again—thrusting his finger in and out of her ass—and she bucked on the stool. “It’s been a long time.”
Summer might not have had another threesome since Midnight Cove, but she couldn’t claim to be a good girl. “You won’t hurt me. I want you.”
Devin tightened his grip on her thighs and picked up speed. “Fuck, you feel so good. I can’t hold on much longer.”
Summer grinned. “Hurry, Blake.”
He kissed her shoulder and slipped his finger free and the loss had her mewling. But as soon as she whimpered, Blake stepped up, grabbing her under the thighs, supporting her weight along with the stool.
His cock pressed at her forbidden entrance and as Devin rocked her against him, Blake thrust.
Oh!
His bulbous head eased past the tight ring and discomfort turned to bliss. Deeper and deeper he worked her.
Rocking her body in time with Devin. Up and down, up and down. At last, he’d buried himself inside her.
Sweet Jesus
. It was so much more than her faded memories. So much better. Their cocks danced with each other inside her body—so close without touching.
How had she gone four years without this? Without them? Summer leaned back onto Blake as her men fell into sync. Devin pulling out, Blake pumping deep. Both of them holding her open and supporting her weight as they rocked her up and down.
The little red boat in her painting? It was Summer. Riding the ocean as heaven opened up and showed her bliss in the middle of a storm. An orgasm rushed in, overwhelming her body, turning her moans into cries. Her shivers into spasms.
Devin groaned and let go, coming with her in a torrent inside her. Blake followed and all three trembled and shook. Blissed out and satisfied in the middle of the kitchen. After a moment, Blake stepped back as Devin pulled away.
Her jellied legs hung off the stool and Summer held onto Devin’s arms to keep from falling. As the last bursts of pleasure faded into a glow inside her, she laughed. “I thought you promised me a bed?”
Devin ducked his head. “I did. Guess we got a little carried away.”
Blake stroked her bare skin and smiled into her shoulder. “We could always have round two. Between the sheets.”
Summer turned to him and kissed his lips. “I like the sound of that.”