Take Two

  I guess this is what they call an epiphany, she thought dully. I was too stupid to see love even when it was right under my nose and now I’m losing them. Losing them both.

  So what are you going to do about it? Sadie shook her head and looked around. Blakely was still passed out in the med-chair and Holt, looking weaker by the minute, was slumped beside him, still holding his hand. Do about it? What could she do about it? You can stop feeling sorry for yourself for one thing. If you just stand here having a pity party you’ll lose them for sure. Sadie shook herself. Right. Standing there and crying wasn’t helping the situation at all. She felt an icy blanket of calm descend over her nerves, the one that came over her when she felt truly threatened. Only this time it was her men that were in danger—she could feel them slipping away through her bond with them, could feel them growing weaker by the minute. That’s right—my men, she told herself. Now how am I going to save them, heal them? Wait a minute…

  Something nagged at the back of her brain. Images of herself pinned between the two of them being loved, supported, healed…but it was always Blakely and Holt that did the healing. Could the bond she had with them work the other way, too? Only one way to find out!

  “Holt!” she said sharply. The blond man looked up at her, his sapphire eyes dull with pain and loss.

  “He’s going, Sadie. Blake’s leaving me; I can feel it.”

  “He’s not going anywhere,” Sadie said grimly. “And neither are you. Come on—get on your feet and give me a hand.”

  Holt looked at her with glassy eyes, but did as she commanded, stumbling to his feet clumsily. He looked, Sadie thought, like she had felt a few minutes ago—so full of grief and loss that it was clouding his mind—making it impossible to think straight. Sadie thought it was entirely possible that even if the T-link hadn’t been pulling him down, Holt would have died of grief when Blakely did. They were that close.

  “Holt,” she said again, sharply. “Holt, I need you to snap out of it and listen to me. I think I know a way to bring him back—to save him.”

  “But Van Heusen said there’s no known cure,” Holt protested. “What the hell do you think you’re going to do, Sadie?”

  She was glad to see some of the spark come back into the sapphire blue eyes and hear a little of the old, contrary Holt in his voice. Blakely was in bad shape, but his blond partner was more weak with grief than anything else, she was sure.

  “Don’t ask questions. Just help me undress him and get him to the bed. Where’s the bedroom around here?”

  “There’s a king size bed through here,” Holt motioned numbly and they hoisted Blakely between them, being careful not to touch the pulsing arm. Sadie noticed with apprehension that the red streaks that had started at his wrist had now marched halfway up his arm to encircle his bicep. If it reaches his heart he’s gone, she thought, knowing it was true. Haven’t got much time.

  At last they had Blakely lying on the bed completely nude. There was a troubled expression on his face and Sadie thought that, except for the mat of crisp, dark curls covering his powerful chest, he looked like a tired, ill-used little boy having a bad dream.

  “Now what?” Holt was panting, having done most of the lifting and carrying although Sadie had helped as much as she could. He no longer looked shell-shocked, however, for which she was relieved. The cool, light-blue eyes were alert and he was standing up straight.

  “Now we heal him. Take off you clothes—all of them,” Sadie said, beginning to strip herself. The red marks on Blakely’s arm had advanced again, this time to his shoulder and she didn’t like the look of them at all. He was beginning to moan and the dark fans of his eyelashes were fluttering against the high, dark cheekbones. She remembered what Van Heusen had said about dying in terrible agony. They had to stop and reverse this process before the pain took over so completely that Blakely was unable to feel any pleasure. The pleasure was what would save Blakely and save them all.

  “Heal him? What are you talking about?” Holt was protesting, but at least he was taking off his clothes, although considerably slower than Sadie would have liked.

  “You and Blakely healed me, Holt. Three times. Once you brought me back from the brink of death, brought me back from where Blake is now.” Sadie peeled out of her bra and panties with no shame whatsoever as she talked.

  “But that was us healing you. Using the T-link to generate energy. I don’t think…”

  “You have a better idea?” Sadie snapped. She turned on Holt who was still fumbling with the snap on his suit pants while he talked. “Damn it, Holt, we have to try something. We have to fight for Blakely—we love him. I love him, love you both, and I’m not letting either one of you go without a fight. Now hurry up and strip!”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Holt muttered, speeding up his undressing process considerably and Sadie thought she saw a slight grin hovering around the corners of his full lips. Good, Holt believed they could do it. She was sure. “Now what?” he asked when he was completely nude, his long, golden body tense and waiting.

  Sadie thought about it, thought of the way he and Blakely had always healed her. “Get behind him, support him on your lap,” she directed. Without hesitation, Holt did as he was told, sliding behind his partner and cradling the darker man in his arms tenderly. Blakely moaned, his eyelashes fluttering halfway open.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” Sadie heard Holt murmur soothingly. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  “Wha…” Blakely’s voice was slurred and indistinct, but at least he was regaining consciousness.

  Now! Sadie understood instinctively that she had to move fast, while Blakely was still on the edge between sleep and wakefulness, before the pain Van Heusen had predicted set in.

  She climbed onto the bed between Blakely’s legs on her hands and knees, feeling the brush of his coarse chest hair against her tender nipples as she pressed tight against him, putting him between herself and Holt. Blakely’s dark head was leaned back against his partner’s golden shoulder and Holt was leaning down, whispering encouragement into his ear. For just a moment, Sadie was transfixed by the sight of pure, masculine beauty, the dark and light heads close together while Holt’s long, muscular arms encircled his partner’s broad shoulders. Then she dipped her head and took Blakely’s narrow, sensual mouth with her own in a heated but gentle kiss.

  “Blake,” she breathed against his mouth. “Come back to us. We need you—we love you.”

  She pulled back the tiniest bit to see the indigo eyes come all the way open. There was pain in their depths, but need and love as well. She knew Blakely understood her, and, like a tiny, flickering spark in the pit of her stomach, she felt the beginnings of the warm, golden energy that flowed between them when they all touched. It’s going to work! I know it!

  She bent her head again, rubbing herself wantonly against Blakely’s naked chest, feeling her nipples stand to attention at the rough, delicious friction of her tender nubs against his curls. This time she put more into the kiss, parting Blakely’s lips to slip her tongue between his white, even teeth, tasting him, letting him know how much he was wanted, was needed. The energy surged, but weakly, too weakly she was afraid. When she pulled back this time Blakely was completely with them but the pain in his indigo eyes had grown along with his awareness.

  “I love you too, kid,” he managed to say. “Sorry…just hurts so much.” Looking at his arm, Sadie saw that the evil red lines had advanced to his collar bone and were reaching for his neck.

  “Oh, Blake,” she whispered, feeling the start of tears in her eyes and pushing them ruthlessly down. She loved this man and she refused to give up without a fight.

  More, need more somehow… Then more it would be.

  “We’re slowing it down but not stopping it.” Holt’s voice was strained as he stroked along the side of his partner’s neck.

  More, Sadie thought. She kissed Blakely again and then leaned upward to kiss Holt, pressing her full, naked breasts against the rough scratch
of Blakely’s cheek to do so. Again the power surged between them, but it was weaker now, dying. Frantically, Sadie kissed along the side of Blakely’s strong throat, nipping and biting, licking and sucking as he had done to her the very first time they met. Marking him for her own. Making a mark on his skin the way he had made a mark on her heart. The way he and Holt both had.

  “Sadie, sweetheart…” Blakely tried to say, but she shushed him with a finger to his lips.

  “Don’t try to talk, Blake. Just let yourself feel.” Rubbing like a cat, she pressed her cheek against his chest, feeling the coarse curls rub her soft skin, drinking in the spicy, good, sandalwood musk of his body, loving him with everything that was in her. “I love you and Holt loves you. We love you so much, Blake. Please, please don’t leave us,” she murmured softly, continuing to rub her way down his body.

  “Suck him, Sadie. Take him in your mouth,” she heard Holt’s voice urging her and she realized that she was between Blakely’s legs and his dark, thick shaft, semi-erect and throbbing with need was right in front of her. Without hesitation, she took the dusky column of flesh in one hand and rubbed the rose petal soft head against her face.

  Over her cheeks and forehead, lips and eyelids…the sandalwood musk filled her senses and his cock hardened in her hand, velvet over hot iron, pulsing in time to the beat of his heart and hers.

  “Blakely, I love you so much,” she said again and then she lowered her head and ran her tongue lightly over the wide crown of his cock, savoring the musky, bitter, entirely male taste of him. Blakely moaned low in his throat and his hips jerked almost convulsively. The golden energy between them seemed to flex and grow, just a little.

  “He needs more, Sadie.” Holt’s voice was hoarse, urgent.

  “I know what he needs.” She lowered her head. He was big, so big but she took him all the same. Lapping eagerly at the pearly drops forming on the broad head, she sucked the thick shaft into her mouth, taking him down her throat in a way she never would have dreamed was possible. She was only conscious of wanting to take her lover completely inside herself and hold him where he would be safe, and heal him there. Blakely moaned again, his hips bucking to press deep into her warm, willing mouth. Sadie felt another surge of the bright, golden energy around them, but it still wasn’t strong enough. What was she doing wrong? She was doing what Blakely and Holt had done when they healed her. They had put her between them and pleasured her the same way she and Holt had put Blakely between them. An idea tickled the back of her brain.

  Every other time the healing had occurred, she had been between the two men. She was the bridge, the connector, the conductor between them that allowed the T-link to open and pour its electrical healing magic through them all. Giving Blakely’s thick shaft one last, loving suck, Sadie raised her head and looked at the two pairs of blue eyes staring back at her.

  She knew what she had to do.

  25

  “We’re doing this wrong. We’re in the wrong position.” She licked her lips, swollen with sucking Blakely’s thick shaft. “Holt, prop Blake up on the pillows and come around behind me.”

  Neither man questioned her orders. Holt did as he was told, sliding out from behind his partner as gently as he could and made sure Blakely was comfortable on a stack of pillows before he came to kneel at the foot of the king-sized bed behind her.

  “Now what?” his warm breath on the back of Sadie’s neck and the heat of his golden chest so close to her own nakedness sent a shiver through her.

  “Watch,” she whispered. “Wait.” Rising up on her knees, she crawled forward until she was straddling Blakely’s groin and the broad, mushroom-shaped head of his cock was centered directly under her wet sex. “Blake,” she whispered, lowering herself until she could feel his thickness brushing against the slippery, swollen bud of her clit. “Blake, I love you and I’m not letting you go. I’m not letting either one of you go.” She let herself down, feeling his hardness breach her entrance and took his thick cock deep, so deep, all the way into her wet, hot cunt until she felt him pressing hard against the end of her channel.

  “God, baby!” Blakely’s voice sounded hoarse, strangled with need and love and Sadie felt another surge in the energy between them as she began to ride, rising up to feel the thick shaft slip almost all the way from her body and then lowering herself to take him deep again, feeling the exquisite pleasure that was more than half pain of having a man who was so large and thick stretching her cunt.

  Sadie felt Holt hovering uncertainly behind her back and knew they had to make the circuit complete. “Touch me,” she urged her other lover. “Love me, Holt. Get me ready.”

  “Ready for what, Sadie?” His voice was low and needful, almost a growl. He did as she asked, wrapping strong arms around her while she rode his partner and cupped her breasts in his large, warm hands. At the contact the energy surged again.

  “Ready to take you,” she whispered breathlessly. “I need…need you both inside me to make this work, Holt. Need you to take me, too.”

  “Sadie,” he protested, nibbling softly along her neck. “You know what that means. You know what that would do to us. The Life-bond…”

  “I don’t care!” she gasped as Blakely thrust into her deeply, filling her to the limit and beyond. “Don’t care anymore. I want it, Holt. Need it, need you both inside me at the same time. Making love to me, filling me, fucking me. Bonding with me. Please, Holt…”

  He didn’t answer with words, but she felt his large, warm hands on her back, pressing her lower so that she was leaning over Blakely with her breasts brushing softly against his face. Blakely turned and captured one of her nipples between his lips, sucking long and hard, making her groan as flames of pleasure licked along her sensitive flesh.

  “Love you, baby,” he whispered softly, releasing her nipple and then turning his attention to the other.

  Blakely’s hot mouth was so distracting that Sadie almost forgot what she had asked Holt to do until she felt something slippery and cold pressing between the cheeks of her bottom. She gasped in apprehension at first, feeling the immediate urge to clench herself closed and get away. Never been touched there before. It’s dirty, wrong…No! With a huge mental effort, she pushed the mean little voice of guilt away and forced herself to relax and concentrate on what Holt was doing and saying to her.

  “It’s all right, sweetheart. Not gonna hurt you,” he whispered low in her ear. He was massaging her gently and the cream he was using to help open her was warmer now, almost soothing. “I love you, Sadie,” Holt said softly. “Love every part of you.” Sadie gasped as he withdrew for a moment to lick a long, wet furrow up the groove of her spine as she crouched over Blakely. His fingers never stopped their gentle motion, working deeper and deeper into her body that already felt too full where she was pierced with Blakely’s cock. “Lean over a little more, Sadie. Give me room to work,” he whispered, his warm hand on her back urging her forward.

  Sadie did as she was told, but inside she could feel panic rising, overwhelming the golden flood of energy she felt pouring from both men. The mean little voice was back, the voice of Aunt Minnie and Gerald and all of uptight Goshen. Whore, slut, nice girls don’t… but what had that kind of thinking ever done for her? Why should she deny the love she felt, deny the men she loved just because there were two of them instead of one?

  Closing her eyes, Sadie took a deep, trembling breath and turned away from that voice and all it represented for good. This was the life she had chosen, a life of laughter and caring and love. A life with Blakely and Holt. She would give herself to them, to both of them and never regret it. Never look back.

  She bent forward and rubbed her face against Blakely’s rough cheek, hearing his murmured words of endearment and love, the same sweet words Holt was uttering behind her. She was spread open, wider than she had ever been with one thick cock buried in her wet sex, about to be pierced with another from behind. She could feel the rise and fall of Blakely’s chest, smell the hot scent
of sex in the air as his sandalwood musk mixed with Holt’s clean, sharp fragrance to create the aroma that was at once and entirely both of them. Her long hair trailed down her shoulders and Holt hovered over her, ready to pin her even more securely than she was already pinned to the bed, to his partner underneath her. Sadie breathed deeply and knew it was right.

  “I love you both so much,” she whispered. “Holt, I’m ready.”

  There were no words, but she felt his long fingers being replaced with a blunt, moist probe and she knew it was the head of his cock pressing against her entrance there. She could feel Holt’s hot breath against her back as he panted, pressing up into her body, entering her slowly, trying not to hurt her if he could help it.

  Hot tears pulsed behind her eyelids, and Sadie bit her lip and tried to hold them back. She knew Holt was trying not to hurt her, but she was already so filled with his partner’s cock and the big blond man behind her was still only buried halfway in her body. So full…Goddess, so full! her mind whispered.

  “Sadie, do you want me to stop?” she heard him whisper and she knew that he and Blakely had probably been exchanging one of those wordless glances over her shoulder and Blakely was warning his partner that this was becoming too much for her.

  Sadie took another deep breath and tried to relax, tried to feel the love pouring between them for her, tried to let the golden energy of their joining wash over her body and drown her in pleasure. Instinctively she understood that it would only hurt this first time. After both men had penetrated her completely and the Life-bond was fully forged there would never be pain in their joining again. There would be only the deep, fulfilling pleasure of baring her soul and opening her body to both her lovers at once. They were so close to that ultimate completion, she could feel it, throbbing beneath the surface of her skin, pulsing to get out and flow through them all, binding them irrevocably together. Did she want to stop?