No Simple Sacrifice (Secrets of Stone Book 5) (14 page)

Only giving her a harsh grunt of warning, Drake buried his face into that crevice once more. At the same time, I plucked at both her nipples.

“Oh!” Her whole body quaked. Her fingers scrabbled along the door, desperately seeking purchase, as he tongued her cleft without mercy. Her belly pumped in and out, fighting for nonexistent control. I shifted my hands, flattening one against her sternum…then sliding it up toward her throat. When I lightly wrapped my fingers around her slender neck, her eyes shot wide. I was already waiting for the look.

“Ssshhh, baby. I’m not going to hurt you.” I caressed her skin with the tips of my fingers. “But I
am
demanding your trust.”

The column undulated beneath my touch—just before Drake delved deeper, making her gasp again. “I…I trust you.”

“Then relax. Give over to it. Enjoy it. Feel Drake loving you. Feel me securing you. Feel
us
…needing you.”

I turned my fingers in, tightening my grip…just a little. Her stare flared wider. “It’s okay,” I murmured, my love stamped in every enunciation. “Breathe through your nose, sweetheart. I’m right here. We both are. We need this bad, Tolly.”

I demonstrated just that, by leaning in to kiss her hard. My hand stayed on her throat, giving her no option for breath but her nose. Her lips were soft and open beneath mine, a silent declaration of her trust. We groaned into each other, mutual sounds of awe and awakening. The comprehension that Drake and I controlled her completely—him mandating her desire, me dictating her very breath—was an elixir of the hottest, deepest arousal I’d ever known. I had to swallow hard myself. Gritted three layers of enamel off my back teeth, battling my body’s desperate screams for release.

Talia’s moan turned into a harder sound—her own appeal for the ultimate shattering. She was so close now.
So close.

Which meant it was time.

“Tolly,” I rasped against her mouth. “Look at me.” When her eyes dragged open once more, I let the demand out. “Do you feel this? The energy? Our adoration? Our love, flowing between the three of us? Why the hell are you ignoring it, Talia?
Why
the hell would you say we don’t have anything together?” I pressed in closer, until our noses nearly touched. “Your breaths are our breaths. Your life, your happiness, is our greatest joy. You’re
ours
, Talia. We won’t let you go.”

“Never.” Drake took just two seconds to growl it, before pushing his mouth to her clit again, and sucking in hard.

She screamed, giving in to her orgasm with complete abandon. It had to be the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. Only with astonishing self-control did I not join her—yeah, right there in my pants. Drake groaned from the same supreme effort. My fingers itched to squeeze her throat tighter, to watch her battle at organizing her thoughts enough to still find oxygen. And I’d be the one to give it all back.

I would give her everything she needed. Always.

She finally reopened her eyes with a drowsy, sated expression. I kissed her again, though the action was quick. It still took every force of my will not to scoop her up, carry her to the sofa, and sink balls-deep into her. Nothing felt better than the pussy of a woman who’d just come. Best yet,
our
woman.

But our question still needed an answer.

Gently, I guided her hands up. “Put your hands on my shoulders so you don’t fall over, baby.”

With a jerking little nod, she complied. Drake rose, repeating my kiss with his own—not lingering much longer about it either. His lips and chin still glistened with her cream. He let his mouth trail over her jaw, her cheeks, her nose…totally cherishing her. “Thank you, sweet girl.”

“Why are you thanking me?” Her voice was low and husky. “That…was amazing. Thank
you
.”

“It’s an honor to make love to you.” His word choice didn’t escape me.
Make love
. Neither of us had ever used the expression before…until now. “And we want to do it again and again…day after day…making you feel like this.”

Talia threw her stare between us, as if he’d spoken in a foreign language. That had the guy tossing a questioning glance at me, and vice versa. Where was the disconnect here? What the hell were we doing wrong, that she wasn’t grasping how deeply we meant this…how completely we wanted this with her? All of it. We were
in
, bodies, hearts, and souls.

Drake found a much better way of saying it. “I love you, Talia.”

Yeah. Much better. Boom. Cards on the table. I admired his no-bullshit approach, and copied it without shame. “As do I.” I caressed the elegant bones beneath her cheek. “With all of my heart, baby. That was why, after we got done at SGC, we decided to get back here as soon as possible.” Drake’s affirming nod encouraged me further. “We refused to let that bullshit we heard become the new definition of us.”

Beneath my fingers, her face crunched on a frown. “But I never said that. I mean, I do talk to Taylor; she’s one of my closest friends—but I never denied there hadn’t been something between us. And no way would Taylor have deliberately twisted my words.”

“I believe you.”

“I do too,” Drake murmured.

“All the women, here
and
in Chicago, know to tread carefully around Melissa. That doesn’t mean it’s always possible. If you’re in her crosshairs, you brace for the bullet.” She pushed out a heavy breath, reaching to us both. “She’s a mess, and I’m sorry she lied to you.”

Drake, firing on all his perceptive cylinders again, dove right into the opening she’d cracked. “So…you
are
acknowledging the three of us really have something here?”

It was textbook Newland, about as black or white a statement as they came, but this time, I couldn’t fault him for it. Even sent him a wordless cheer. Enough was enough. We needed an honest answer from her, once and for all.

A chirp sounded in the other room—a notification from
her
cell, since ours were both still in our pockets. When we flanked her with direct stares, curious if she’d jump at the chance to escape the conversation, she instead quirked a little smile and asked, “Uhhhh…do you want to see my bedroom?” But the coquette disappeared beneath our shocked stares. “Or…not. I just thought maybe we could all—well—you know—since you came all that way.” Her smile changed from coquette to lamb. “My bed isn’t giant like yours, just a normal queen size, but I think we can manage?”

“I’m sure we can.”

My eagerness earned me another Newland special: a baleful glare that betrayed how deeply he wanted to keep pressing her on the commitment. But a man could only stand so much torture before dying or breaking—and I sure as fuck didn’t feel like dying tonight. That left one option. Screw the rest of the resistance from her. If we made love to her all night, we’d surely have all our answers by morning’s light.

Drake picked up my strategy, loud and clear. Didn’t stop him from scrubbing a frustrated hand down his face. “You have any bottled water in your fridge?” he asked her softly.

“Of course,” she answered. “Oh! God, I’m so sorry; where are my manners? I’ll get one for everyone and be right there. Straight back, end of the hall. And don’t scare Titus. He’s probably sleeping.”

“Titus?” We charged it in unison.

“My turtle. I’ll formally introduce you when I get in there.”

“Oh, right. The selfish bastard.” I borrowed the comment from the day she’d first made it, during our flight out to Vegas on the SGC jet. It’d been an unforgettable day, leading to a life-changing night. The night we’d first touched
her
…

“The one and only.” Talia’s laugh was beautiful, like little bells tinkling—though I suspected she was still seeking an out from our heavy moods.

Her bedroom was everything I’d expected it to be. Organized, clean and simple. She had a style in both her fashion and decorating that was classic, easy and elegant. Her queen-size bed took up most of the room, with the no-frills Scandinavian design of the big box furniture store we’d passed on the way in. She made a decent salary at SGC, but rent was high in this neighborhood and it looked like she valued a good location over material things. The easy blue tones of the walls and bedding made the room feel relaxing and inviting.

I sat on the edge of her bed and kicked off my shoes. Drake paced back and forth, ending up near the turtle’s corner of the room.

“For a little dude, that thing smells bad.” He nodded toward Titus’s aquarium.

I snorted “Well, she clearly loves him, so we do too.”

“That simple, huh?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It pretty much is.”

“Pretty much what?” Talia entered, her swaying hips a perfect complement to her curvy nudity. She seemed comfortable that way, making me anything but—especially as I entertained the fantasy of her being like this all the time. Would she ever agree to such a thing? Being naked for us around the house…all the time?

Fuck
.

I took a second to adjust my cock as she turned toward Titus’s tank. Then yet again—like it did any damn good—while watching the reverse heart of her delectable little ass.

“Oh,” she whispered dramatically. “Titus is sleeping. We’ll have to have our meet-and-greet with him in the morning.” She straightened as if startled. “Oh, shit. Wait.”

“What?” Drake, closer than me, stroked reassuring knuckles down her shoulder.

“Well…are you…do you guys want to spend the night?”

I gave up on the adjustments. I was hard as a nail just looking at her. With the innocent pensiveness thrown in, as if she were literally asking us just to
sleep
over, my dick was a goner.

Drake, while clearly dealing with the same issue, was fortunately thinking clearly enough to respond, “We’d like to, if that’s okay?”

Talia gave him a soft smile. “I would like that too.”

She blinked in surprise when he didn’t return the expression. Came as no shock to me when he revealed his purpose. “Tolly, we need to talk.”

She flung up a hand. “
No
.”

He arched a brow. “Excuse me?”

“Please.” She lowered her arm and ducked her head. “
Please
no, okay? No more tonight. You two must be tired, and I—” Her face lifted, beseeching us both. “I just want us to…
be
…right now. I just want to fall asleep with you both, locked in your arms. Can we just…do that, and worry about the rest tomorrow?”

I didn’t respond right away. Neither did Drake. He assessed her from raven dark eyes, calculating the cost of her plea…and I almost laughed at him for it. We both already knew what his answer would be. What it always would be. Nothing mattered more than our girl’s comfort and happiness.

Finally tired of waiting on him, I stood then pulled the top comforter down to the foot of the bed. He grabbed the other side and helped, before pivoting to drop a gentle buss onto Tolly’s forehead.

“Go get ready for bed.” He pulled back, flashing a quick wink. “Perhaps we’ll help…tuck you in.”

Her delight nixed her from understanding the full force of D’s innuendo. “You two are the best.”

“We are.” I gave her the grin I was famous for, letting her have the innocent illusion a while longer. “I’m glad you’re admitting that to yourself.”

As she walked away I heard her mumble something. I could’ve sworn it sounded like, “I may be naive but I’m not stupid.”

Now
that
was a reason to share a good chuckle with my best friend. We did just that while stripping out of our clothes and climbing into bed. As we waited, Drake side-eyed me, looking a little tense.

“What?” I finally prompted.

“If this all goes the way we want it to, we’ll have to tell her the turtle lives outside.”

I chuckled harder. “A news flash
you
get to deliver, man.”

He started to fume but forgot about it—the same way I did—as she emerged from the bathroom. Still naked. And twice as sexy. If that was even possible.

She’d piled her hair atop her head in some crazy-looking bun, and had applied lotion that made her skin gleam more than before. And holy shit, did the stuff smell good. A hint of floral wrapped in creamy coconut…stirring all my fantasies of fucking her on the beach.

Someday.

God help us, someday soon.

“Well, look at this, Fletch. No creepy flannel nightgown for our girl.”

She wiggled her eyebrows in a teasing invitation. “Definitely
not
flannel.”

“Thank fuck.” I sat up against the headboard then reached for her, hypnotized all over again by her tan, smooth, glorious flesh. “Baby.” I couldn’t help revealing my reverie. I was captivated…intoxicated. I wanted to spend the night worshipping her body and nourishing her spirit. I needed to make her mine.

I pulled her down onto my lap, palming her breast while kissing her pillowy lips. She moaned into my mouth as I kneaded and tugged on her hard tip, her areola tightening beneath my hot fingers. She felt so good. So
damn
good. I bucked a little, pushing my erection against her ass. Only the blankets separated our bodies now.

I tilted my head to trail kisses down her neck, across her bare shoulder. Little trembles claimed her.

“Easy, love,” I whispered. “No need to be nervous.”

“I’m…I’m not nervous.” It was breathy but carried honest certainty. “Not anymore. It—it just…”

“Just what?”

“It feels so good.” She scratched her delicate nails inward from my shoulders, all the way down my spine. “
You
feel so good, Fletcher.”

Her exploration set off trembles through my own system.
Everywhere.
What this woman did to me…

“
Baby.
I can’t hold out much longer.” A groan escaped as I listened to Drake setting up shop on the opposite nightstand. The rustle of condom packets being stacked. The plastic flip of a lube bottle. Where the hell had he stashed those? And did I really care? The Marine had come prepared, and I was really thankful. “I need to fuck you, Talia. We both do. We need to be as close to you as we can get.”

She let out a long sigh. “Yes. Please. I…I need it too.”

I shifted her over, rolling until she was beneath me. Drake scooted over too.