Husbandry (6 page)

Captivated, I watched as he laved my right breast as if he
were lapping at a hot-fudge sundae. I flexed my spine, thrusting closer to his
mouth until he sucked the cherry on top. A relay of blissful tingles ran from
my nipple to my pussy, which blossomed open over his waiting erection.

Reaching down, I grasped his cock and positioned it against
my slick opening. Chad released my breast from his mouth and watched me
face-to-face as I slowly sank down.

“You feel enormous in this position.” The feeling of him
stretching me wide made me groan.

His smile was brilliant. “You always say that, my love. I
was made to fit you. To fill you. Open yourself to me.”

The pressure of his hands shifted so I couldn’t retreat. With
a firm push and thrust, he buried himself all the way to the root of his cock.
I felt his tremor of pleasure as if it were my own.

His stare, when he lifted his lashes, was as penetrating as
his hard length inside me. There was no place to hide with Chad. No forgetting
for a second whom I was with or concealing how vulnerable I was in his arms.

He kept his touch gentle, though his hands traveled
everywhere: my breasts, thighs, back, and nape. “Ride me. Take your pleasure.”

I did. Pushing up, I let his wet cock slip out of me one
rigid inch at a time before I sank back down to swallow it whole. Each ascent
made his shaft rake over my intimate inner tissue, causing pleasure so intense
it was almost relief. Then the fat head of his dick shot high again as I came
down. It reached all the way to my womb, forcing my vaginal walls to strain and
spasm around it. I felt like I was building an inferno with the up-and-down
friction.

“You feel so good.” Chad murmured the words like a confession.
“Every time we make love, I swear it can’t get any better. But it does. I could
stay inside you forever.”

His words cocooned me in protective warmth and stoked the
conflagration higher. I clutched his shoulders for leverage as I rode him
harder and faster. My thighs burned in protest, but he used his hands on my
backside to help me keep the pace. There were no hard edges to his lovemaking.
The ride was as smooth as the satin skin of his cock.

Thanks to the candlelight, the whole bedroom was bathed in
dancing shadows. Two of the shadows that writhed against the far wall were
silhouettes of our bodies. My dusky mimic bounced over her mate, whose strong
arms held her close. We created a work of erotic art painted only in darkness
and light.

“
Non ti fermare
,”
he pleaded in Italian. “Don’t stop.”

As if I could. The tremors had already started deep inside
my core. The next time I plunged onto his shaft, he used his grip to add more
downward force. His dick felt like it pierced straight through me, tripping my
orgasm as it shot toward my head.

“Ahhh!” I jerked in his arms.

My whole channel went into a series of convulsions that
rebounded off his unyielding cock. I cried out, and my body drew up tight with
each contraction, as if I could suck him up inside me and never let him go.

“That’s it, Fila. Oh, that’s it.” Chad had his eyes squeezed
tightly shut now. “I love feeling you ripple around my shaft.”

My pussy fluttered one last time in approval.

I would have keeled over if not for his hold on me. He used his
strength to lift me off him. The feel of his cock, still as full and hard as
ever, slipping free of my sheath was enough to make me pop my eyes wide. Then
he laid me on my side and got into position behind me.

He lifted my knee so he could slip his muscled thigh between
my legs. “
Encore une fois
.”

My brain went numb, but I understood the word
encore.

Even if I hadn’t, the firm thrust of his cock into my pussy
made his meaning crystal clear. He took up right where he’d left off, pounding
me with single-minded devotion. Every inward stroke made a slapping sound as
our damp skin smacked together.

“Look at that,” he said. “See how extraordinary you are?”

My gaze collided with my image reflected in the mirror above
the dresser. I could see his long fingers curled over the mound of my breast.
Below it, my free nipple was contracted into a diamond-hard point. The carnal
grimace on my face made me doubly aware of how fast he was building another
climax inside me.

When I looked higher, I met dark green eyes alive with
hunger. Chad dropped his hand between my legs to finger my clit and slowed and
deepened his strokes. I squealed at the first rotation of his hips. Then I
couldn’t stop wailing.

“
Incroyable
!”
Incredible! He drew corkscrews with his cock, rolling the swollen head right
over the most sensitive spot inside me. “Please, love. Come for me again. One
more time.”

“Yes!”

I felt my pussy fist his shaft before my climax detonated in
a series of frenetic spasms. His hips stopped circling, and he bombarded me
with quick, hard thrusts that pierced the very center of my orgasm. He squeezed
my pounding clit as he bucked against me.

“
Je jouis!
” he
bellowed. “I’m coming!”

Action followed, and he flooded me with his cum. I could
feel each kick of his erection as it spurted more of his seed, pumping and
pumping until his balls finally came up dry. He left me a trembling mess. I was
unable to do more than mewl when he slipped his cock out of me and rolled me
into his arms.

For several minutes, we did nothing but catch our breath.
Sprawled kitty-corner across the large bed, I couldn’t even flip the covers
over us.

“
Ti amo
.” He was
always the first to say it, and he kissed the side of my head for emphasis.

I smiled despite my fatigue. “I love you too. In any
language.”

He held me for several heartbeats. A short while later, he
got up and walked to the bathroom, still wearing nothing but his glorious skin.
I heard water running, and then he returned with a damp washcloth to clean me.
He turned off the music and blew out all but two of the candles, filling the
room with aromatic smoke.

We wound up properly tucked in bed, though Chad showed no
sign of wanting to sleep. Instead he turned on his side and propped his head up
with one hand. With his other hand, he stroked my hip and thigh beneath the
sheet.

“Mmm.” Replete, he no longer looked at me with hunger, but
with a tenderness that was equally compelling. “You are the most amazing
woman.”

I curled my toes beneath the covers. “Says the man who made
me come three times tonight. You make me feel amazing.”

“You deserve it.” He slipped his hand from beneath the
covers to play with my hair. “You also deserve to live your life the way you
want it. Here. With us.”

The first prickle of warning crept up my neck, though I wasn’t
sure where this was leading.

“I don’t know about that, but I plan on keeping you just the
same.”

His lips remained curved, and he appeared fascinated by the
sight of my hair being sifted through his fingers. A companionable silence
descended, reducing the whole world to just the two of us in bed. I sighed and
sank deeper into the mattress.

“Your mother called today,” he informed me.

Okay, this was
not
the pillow talk I’d expected. I was too physically relaxed to tense for more
than a second, though I braced myself.

“How do you know? You were at work all day.” He shouldn’t
have been home to receive her call. “Did Chuck pick up?”

My mom knew I was married, of course. I’d had to tell her
that much. Not letting her plan a big ceremony and reception had upset her
enough, but she was positively outraged she hadn’t even been invited to my
wedding. I’d pointed out that she and my father lived on the other side of the
country. It would have been difficult to wait for them to make travel
arrangements. Yeah, my mother didn’t much like that explanation.

Since then, the honeymoon, the purchase of the new house,
and the subsequent renovations had given me the excuses I needed to keep her
away. I had to get settled in, didn’t I? Most newlyweds didn’t rush to have
houseguests, but I knew I couldn’t keep her away forever.

The truth was Mom had no idea I had three husbands, though
she’d talked to each one on the phone at one time or another. She thought they
were all Chuck, whose moods and attitude happened to be mercurial. Most of the
time she really did talk to Chuck since he was the one who was home.

“Nobody picked up, love. I was at work, and Chuck must have
been busy. Your mother left a message for you.” Chad tapped my nose with his
fingertip. “Some of us actually check our messages.”

Yeah, yeah. So I was bad about that.

“She and your dad sound really nice,” Chad continued. “I
can’t wait to meet them in person.”

Ah. Now we got to the real issue. Chad had been pestering me
for over a month to introduce him and my other husbands to my family.

I tried to keep my tone light. “You know, most guys aren’t
anxious to meet their in-laws.”

“I’m not most guys.” Which was the understatement of the
century. “I admit I’ve felt insulted that you’ve been keeping me and Charles a
secret from your relatives. Now I’m just proud of you.”

“Proud?”

He laughed, and it was a sound of pure joy. “Your mother
mentioned it in her message. She got the wedding photos you sent her.”

Frigid cold flashed through my veins, replacing the languid
warmth I’d enjoyed in the wake of his lovemaking. “What exactly did she say?”

Chad’s expression turned concerned, and he dropped his hand
to my bare shoulder to offer a reassuring squeeze. “She said she hadn’t opened
the download to see the pictures yet, but she was going to right after she hung
up. Please don’t look so scared. I know you’re worried about how she’ll react
to the three of us, but it will be okay. Although it will be a shock at first,
I’m sure she and the rest of your family will come around. That’s why you
should invite your parents for a visit. They’ll find it easier to accept this
marriage arrangement if they get to know us.”

I stayed silent. At the moment, I was teetering on the edge
of a cliff.

“This is a good thing,” he insisted. “We can move forward,
and the three of us aren’t a dark secret anymore. I won’t have to pretend to be
Chuck the next time your mom calls.”

“Um…yeah. About that.” I could feel the ground dropping away
beneath me. “My parents won’t realize I have three husbands from the photos.”

He blinked for a moment, obviously caught by surprise. “What
do you mean? Didn’t you send them the group shot where we’re all holding up our
rings?”

“Not that group shot, no.”

“So they might assume you married a man who is a triplet. I
hadn’t thought of that.” He continued to stroke his thumb over my skin. “That
could be a bit confusing, but you were always going to have to discuss this
with them, darling. You can tackle the misunderstanding if it comes up.”

The pit of my stomach churned. I was filled with a sickening
sensation that could only be described as dread. I knew the instant his eyes
narrowed that the emotion must have splashed across my face too. If it had been
Chuck with me, he never would have noticed, and Charles wouldn’t have instigated
this conversation to begin with. But Chad caught every nuance of my expression.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Maybe we should talk about this later.”

The easy lover was replaced by a man with steely
determination. “Let’s talk about it now. You did send your mother our wedding
photos. You just said you gave her one of the group shots. One with the three
of us in it.”

“Yes, I did pick one of the original group shots.” I twisted
the satin sheets between my fingers.

“Fila.” His warning tone let me know he was out of patience.

Although I saw the car wreck coming, I couldn’t stop it. I
had to come clean. “I may have cropped it so that there was only one husband in
the picture with me. The rest were of my dress and everything.”

Shock, pain, and finally fury darted across his features,
and his voice grew ominously soft. “Which one? Whom did you crop out?”

“Well—”

He jerked out of bed and stood glowering down at me. “Let me
guess: Chuck. You kept Chuck and cut out me and Charles, didn’t you?”

“Only because he was the easiest to keep in!” I sat up and
clutched the sheet to my chest.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are your other husbands too difficult for
you?” Chad clenched his fists as he shouted at me. “You’re ashamed of me and
Charles. You vowed your love to all three of us, but you only have room in your
life for one man. I guess I’m not that man.”

“It’s not like that.” Tears burned at the back of my eyes.
I’d never seen him so angry, and I was well aware of the hurt behind his rage.
“I want all of you.”

Chad yanked his pants back on and headed for the door. “Not
enough. You say the words, but your actions are loud and clear. Well, maybe
I’ll make things easy for you and crop myself out of this marriage.”

“You don’t mean that!”

A sob escaped me, muffled by the slam of the bedroom door
behind him. The lingering aroma of sandalwood and sex mocked me as I slumped
forward and bawled against the empty mattress.

Buried in my sorrow, I didn’t hear the door open again. I
roused to the feel of a large, warm hand on my back and lifted my head to find
Chuck had joined me.

“Don’t cry.” He gave me an awkward pat, looking more
helpless than I’d ever seen him.

My eyes felt puffy, and I returned a sniffle. “You heard?”

“I heard shouting. It sounded like a meaner fight than the
boxing match I was watching.”

That made me snort, though I wasn’t feeling very funny.
After a deep breath for courage, I told him about my argument with Chad and
what I’d done with our wedding photos. I knew the fact that Chuck was the one
I’d kept in the picture wouldn’t help my cause much. He valued loyalty above
all things.