Monroe, Marla - Their Reluctant Submissive [Knights in Black Leather 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (27 page)

She heard Marx’s then Jackson’s loud shouts as if from a distance and felt their heated release into the condoms. Nothing had prepared her for the emotional avalanche that poured over her as she floated down from the climax. She could feel her sobs even before she heard them.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Marx heard Kelly’s sobs even as the ringing in his ears dimmed. He moved off of her back and carefully pulled from her ass. Dear God had they hurt her? He quickly climbed up the bed, meeting his brother’s stricken eyes in the process. He laid his hand against Kelly’s head and leaned closer.

“Baby. What’s wrong? Did we hurt you?”

Jackson rubbed circles on her back. “Tell us what’s wrong, Kelly, so we can fix it.”

When she didn’t answer them, Marx helped his brother pick her up and lay her back on the bed between them. She was shaking all over. Marx felt helpless in the wake of her crying. He wanted to take away whatever was upsetting her.

“Shh, baby. Tell us what’s wrong. I can’t stand to see you like this.” He wiped away her tears with his thumb and kissed her softly on the lips.

Finally, she seemed to calm down some and opened her eyes. She stared up at them with so much emotion, it was breaking his heart. He smoothed away the wrinkle between her eyebrows as Jackson stroked her cheek with a finger.

“I’m so scared.” Kelly’s voice sounded far away.

“Of what, honey?” he asked.

“Of not having the strength to tell you no if you ask too much of me.”

“Oh, baby. We’d never ask more of you than you would want to give.” He squeezed her hand.

“We love you, Kelly.” Jackson’s simple admission seemed to shock her.

“You do?”

“More than life itself. We would do anything to make you happy, baby.”

Marx needed to tell her himself. The words didn’t come easily to him, though. When he looked into her eyes, the words flowed out.

“I love you just the way you are, kitten. I like your sass and the way you stand up to me. I don’t want you to ever change that.”

He watched as Kelly’s expressive eyes went from disbelieving to hopeful to happy. Then they darkened with even more emotion than before. She lifted her hands and touched both his and his brother’s faces.

“I love you both more than anything. I’ve been so afraid to tell you. I was so scared you would either not really want me that much or you that you would want more of me than I can give.”

“Never hold your fears inside again, baby. Always tell us what they are and let us help you work through them. I can’t stand to see you hurting. It breaks my heart.”

Jackson leaned forward and took her face between his hands. “There is nothing we can’t work out together. I would do anything to make you happy.”

“Just love me. All I need is for you to love me.” Kelly’s voice shook as she pulled them both down to her breasts where she kissed and hugged them.

Marx settled her between them, and together, he and Jackson stroked her until she fell into an exhausted sleep. They continued petting her and touching her for a long time. Marx was afraid that if he stopped, she would wake up and change her mind. He knew it was a stupid fear, but as long as he was touching her, everything seemed okay.

“She loves us, Marx.”

“Yeah. I’m almost scared to believe it.”

“Me, too. What if she changes her mind when she wakes up?”

“She won’t. She trusted us enough to tell us some of her past and to tell us she loved us. I don’t think she’s going to change her mind.” Marx hoped he wasn’t wrong on that.

Jackson’s snores a few minutes later told him that his brother, at least, had believed him. Kelly shifted in her sleep and curled around him. He sighed with content at the feel of her head on his shoulder and her hand curled over his heart. This was where he wanted her to stay, close to his heart.

* * * *

Kelly woke the next morning with both men wrapped around her. The events of the night before poured over her like a dam that had broken. It left her shaken but satisfied that everything was resolved. She trusted them to keep their promise that they didn’t want to own every part of her. Because of that, she found that she wanted to give them even more.

She carefully slipped out of their arms and off the bed. She needed a shower and to get ready for her doctor’s appointment that morning. Once she got the all clear from the doctor that she could return to work, she wanted to start over without the fear that had been plaguing her for so long. She owed so many people so much for the friendship and many chances they had given her. She would never be able to repay them.

“Where you going, kitten?” Jackson’s sleepy voice stopped her as she stepped into the bathroom.

“I’m just going to take a shower. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Want me to scrub your back?”

She laughed. “If you get in the shower with me, I truly doubt we will get much washing done.”

“That’s sort of the plan.” He climbed out of the bed and stalked toward her.

Kelly giggled and hurried to turn on the water. She loved being able to tease him. Jackson was so lighthearted and easy to play with. He grabbed a couple of towels and set them on the towel warmer before stepping into the shower behind her. Pulling her against him, Jackson covered her mouth with his in a teasing kiss. His tongue slipped between her lips and swept into her mouth.

She rubbed her body against Jackson, enjoying the way the hairs on his chest stimulated her nipples to hard peaks. As he deepened the kiss, she ran her thumbs over his nipples, rubbing the flat disks until he moaned into her mouth.

When he finally pulled away, she gasped for breath. They stared at each other as they panted. Then Jackson took the soap and a cloth and started washing her. He paid special attention to her breasts before moving down her abdomen to her pelvis. There he spread kisses across her from hip to hip before dipping lower with the cloth and cleaning her pussy with gentle swipes.

After washing her legs, front and back, Jackson moved up to her buttocks where he massaged them before slipping the cloth between the two globes. Kelly couldn’t help but shiver as he wiped carefully across her tender rosette. She could almost feel the memory of them sliding in and out of her body together. It drew a moan from her lips and a soft chuckle from Jackson.

When he had finished bathing her, Jackson quickly rinsed off and turned off the water. Wrapping a towel around himself, he patted her dry. Kelly felt pampered when he insisted on carrying her back to the bed where he fitted a pair of slippers over her feet and wrapped a brand new terry cloth robe around her.

“Don’t you look pretty this morning?” Marx sat up in bed with his hands behind his head against the headboard.

“Good morning.” She couldn’t help feeling shy.

“Give me a kiss, baby.”

Kelly walked over to the bed and leaned over to kiss him. He pulled her down on top of him and devoured her mouth before she knew what was happening. His mouth was warm and moist and soon had her wet between her legs. She slid her tongue alongside his as he teased her. Pulling back, Marx kissed her nose before sliding over to the edge of the bed and standing up. He pulled her up beside him.

“I better get dressed and see about breakfast. You’ve got a doctor’s appointment today.”

“Go take a shower. I’m going to fix breakfast this morning.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Marx frowned.

“Go on and shower, Marx. I’ll help her with breakfast.” Jackson grabbed Kelly around the waist and pulled her toward the closet. “Let’s get you dressed, little lady.”

Minutes later, Kelly stood in the kitchen in a green pant suit that made her feel feminine while still allowing her plenty of movement. She watched as Jackson prepared breakfast. He refused to let her help despite his earlier statement that he was going to help her. Instead, he’d set her at the counter to watch him.

As soon as they finished breakfast, the men hurried her out to the truck and carried her to town to see the doctor. Dr. Greer was pleased with her progress and pronounced her well enough to return to work. Kelly felt like the last brick that had been holding her down had been lifted. She insisted the men drive her to the store so she could talk to Steve about returning to work. As soon as they pulled up in front of the store, Steve and Tessa were at the door waiting on them to come in.

Steve hugged her. “It’s so good to see you. How are you feeling?”

“I’m ready to come back to work. The doctor just gave me his okay.”

Steve looked up at Jackson and Marx as if for permission. Kelly scowled at him. He had the good sense to look chagrined but didn’t apologize for doing it.

“How about you start back on Thursday. That way you’ll only be working a few days before you have some time off to recoup. Easing back into it is probably the best thing to do. I don’t want you to overdo it first thing.”

“That’s an excellent idea.” Marx was nodding when she glanced over at him.

Jackson merely grinned. She knew they were pleased with Steve’s schedule. If the truth were known, Kelly was secretly glad as well. It gave her a few more days with her men before getting back into work mode.

Once they returned home, Kelly realized that she had come to regard their house as her home. Since they hadn’t exactly said that they wanted her to live with them, she remained uneasy about accepting it that way. Yes, they had told her they loved her and would always honor her need for independence, but did it mean that they loved her as someone they wanted in their lives permanently? She didn’t have those answers yet. Until she did, Kelly planned to take things one day at a time.

* * * *

Over the next two weeks the men treated her like a fragile, precious gift that they were afraid of breaking. While she enjoyed the attention and special treatment, Kelly wanted to be treated like she had been before the fire. She missed the hard loving and how they took care of her needs. She missed the spankings and the way they tied her up so that she was helpless and dependent on them to take care of her for those few hours.

Finally, she’d had enough of their tiptoeing around and planned to have it out with them after dinner that night. Tomorrow was Saturday, and she wanted to go to the club. She planned to tell them that she would be going with or without them. No doubt they would explode, but it was what she wanted.

While Jackson coddled her some anyway, Marx never had, and she missed that hard edge that had always been a part of him. His constantly asking her how she was and patting her head wasn’t the real Marx.

As soon as she made it home that night, Kelly started dinner. She enjoyed cooking occasionally, and the men had taken away her kitchen time believing they were taking care of her by cooking and feeding her. Instead, they were driving her crazy. It would stop tonight. She had everything planned.

Jackson walked into the kitchen with a frown marring his handsome face. Kelly ignored him until he spoke.

“Aren’t you home early? Is something wrong, baby?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I was caught up so I left a few minutes early is all.” She continued mixing the meatloaf she had planned.

“You don’t have to cook, Kelly. It’s my turn.” He stepped into the kitchen and washed his hands.

“No, it’s past my turn. You’ve been keeping me out of the kitchen lately. Are you trying to tell me you don’t like how I cook?” She molded the mixture into a loaf and plopped it in the pan.

“Of course not. We love your cooking. We just thought you needed some time to recover from everything.”

“Thank you for that, but I’m fine. The doctor released me several weeks ago. I want to get back to normal.”

Kelly watched him struggle with that for a few minutes. Finally he nodded. He was about to say something more when the back door opened and Marx walked in. It was obvious by his expression on finding her in the kitchen cooking that he wasn’t going to give in as easily.

“What’s going on? Jackson?” He pulled off his boots and dropped them by the backdoor.

“Nothing, Marx. Dinner will be ready in two hours. You have time for a shower if you want one.”

He scowled and glanced from Jackson back to her again. “It’s Jackson’s turn to cook.”

“Um, Marx. Kelly wanted to cook tonight.” Jackson seemed to be trying to warn his brother not to push it.

Kelly almost burst out laughing at the lifted eyebrows between the two men. Instead, she started washing the potatoes to peel.

“Kelly, there’s no need for you to cook. We can handle that.”

She didn’t bother turning around. She didn’t want to fight with them over cooking. She had a much more serious argument to start after dinner.

“I know you can, but I like to cook sometimes, Marx. Don’t you like my cooking?”

“Of course we like your cooking. We just think that you shouldn’t overdo it. You already work so much.”

“Well, so do you two. In fact, you both work a lot more than I do.”

“Kelly, we don’t want you to spend all your time working and doing stuff around the house. We want you to enjoy yourself some.”

“I am enjoying myself, so back off. We’re having that conversation
after
dinner.”