buttons of his shirt. Every second she worked to bare him, she blinked up at him, her unwavering stare allowing him to see the honest desire in her eyes. Gone was the shy girl who hid her emotions. He could see them playing out, could feel the caress of her hands over every inch of skin she uncovered. This wasn’t a selfish girl trying to take her pleasure, but a woman offering all of herself to him. Kellan was suddenly humbled by her.
He caught her hand, some unnamable emotion welling inside him. “What are you doing, Annabelle?”
A glance around confirmed that this wasn’t a mere haphazard encounter. She’d already turned the bed down. He could see a box of condoms lying on the nightstand. She’d planned this.
Her rich chocolate gaze never faltered. He’d taught her well—and she’d learned quickly. “I’m seducing you.”
“You don’t have to. You know I want you.”
A little grin curved her lips up. “It’s harder than you think. You’re still fighting me.”
“Did you send everyone away?” How far did her plotting go?
“Yes.”
He sighed but let her hand go. She immediately went back to working to free him of his shirt. She pushed it off his shoulders, then dropped to her knees, touching the button of his slacks. It was the first time she’d broken eye contact, and he found himself breathing again. When she watched him with her big dark eyes, he got lost in her.
“Why the big production number, love? I admit, it worries me that Eric and Tate might think I’m being presumptuous, but other than that, I’ll take a nooner.”
He purposefully used casual words. Nooner. Quickie. Roll in the hay. Hookup. He could toss those words out all day long, but deep inside he knew where this was heading. He was making love to the only woman he would ever care about. Might as well admit it… She was the only woman he’d ever love.
Belle lowered his zipper. It hissed in the silence, broken only by their ragged breaths. He sighed as she pulled his boxers past his hips and toward the floor. She knew exactly how to make a man feel good. He would give her that. Over the course of a week, she’d tossed aside her inhibitions and become the lover of his dreams. Giving. Open. Honest. Passionate.
How was he going to leave her and not fucking fall apart?
“Eric gave you permission.”
He felt his jaw clench as his cock sprang free. “I’m sure Tate would like to have a say. He’s a possessive bastard.”
She tilted her head up, giving him a brilliant smile. “He is, but he’s okay with this. Who do you think plugged me earlier today? He took me into the bathroom and spent a lot of time working this plug inside my ass. He talked about you and Eric the whole time, about how he hoped we’d eventually all be together. But he also knew what I wanted today. He thought you would find it hot.”
Hot? He found it scorching. His cock strained up, twitching as though trying to get to her on its own. “You’re wearing an anal plug?”
She licked his cock like a treat she wanted to savor—slowly, lovingly, making him bite back a moan. “Tate thought it might spice up the encounter for you. It’s the large plug. I’ve run through the whole training set. Tate says this is the last one before we get to the real stuff. According to him, it will make my pussy very tight. Interested?”
Fuck, yes. Well before she’d said any of that. All Annabelle Wright ever had to do was look at him and he burned.
She took the head of his cock into her mouth, and he closed his eyes. He had the terrible suspicion that she meant to seduce him into some sort of forever. It wouldn’t work, but he couldn’t say no to her. His dick was already threatening to burst. His heart…not far behind.
“Come up here.” If he let her, she would suck him until he came deep in her mouth, and he really wanted to fuck her with that plug. They’d been progressing her through the training set, each plug a little larger to ready her for the anal sex he ached to give her. He wished he’d been there when she’d taken the large plug. He would have deeply enjoyed the way her eyes had to have widened and her breath must have caught as Tate had slid that plug home.
She rose to her feet, and he kicked away his shoes, slacks, and boxers. Normally he would have folded them, but he didn’t give a shit today. They weren’t playing. They were stealing time. He had an hour or so to have her all to himself. Eric would try to rush through his call. Tate could come home at any time. The minute they could be up here, they would. It made him a selfish bastard but he wanted all the time alone with her he could grab.
He kissed her, letting himself really revel in her for the first time. He’d been viewing the encounters with the four of them as very pleasurable teaching sessions. He’d distanced himself by playing the second-fiddle Dom, letting Eric take the lead, but here and now he was just Kellan and she was just Belle. Just a man and a woman with only these moments together.
The minute the others showed up, he would have to take on his hands-off role because they deserved her and he didn’t. He would have to honor their claim on her.
His tongue delved deep, rubbing and playing against hers. He felt the nubs of her nipples against his skin. He reached down, cupping her breasts. They were soft, but firm. They nestled so perfectly in his hands as though she’d been made just for him. He kissed his way from her mouth to her neck, burying his face in her shoulder, inhaling the sweetness of her scent.
He’d never wanted any woman as much as he wanted Belle. What if he’d met her before Lila? He could rewrite his history. Why couldn’t he have found her before he’d attached himself to that ball and chain, then jumped into the drowning pool? Before he’d been ruined. Before he’d been utterly broken.
How different would his life be now?
“I need you,” she whispered. “Please, Kellan. Please take me.”
He watched as she moved away from him, settling herself on the bed with a siren’s smile. She held a hand out to him.
She could ruin him in ways he’d never even imagined. If Lila had taken his family and his pride, Belle could kill his soul. If she chose to, she could rip him apart, and he would never be able to put himself back together. He would lay down and die if Belle betrayed him.
That summed up why he had to leave.
But not yet. Not fucking yet. He wasn’t walking out until he absolutely had to. He could have one more taste of heaven before he resigned himself to a lifetime of hell.
He cursed, hating that he was even thinking about anything except the ecstasy she offered him here and now. Only that mattered. Right now, he had no past and no future. Just the beautiful present.
Kell pulled a condom off the strip, opened it and worked it over his straining cock. Desire pounded through his system, and he wondered what it would be like to take off the fucking piece of latex and take his chances. How good would it feel to come deep inside her knowing there was nothing in between them. If he got her pregnant, there wouldn’t be any question of him leaving. He would have to stay. He would be obligated to remain in her life. They would be connected by a child who would need them both.
But he couldn’t do that to her. She deserved to know that any man in her life was there because he couldn’t live without her, not because he’d knocked her up.
“Please, Kellan. Give us just a few minutes. We don’t have to think about anything but right now. Just…be with me.”
She offered him everything he wanted. He couldn’t stay away. He fell on her without an ounce of his usual finesse. It was raw and real, and he couldn’t seem to make himself stop. When he took a lover, he thought about technique and forced himself to be patient, but he couldn’t with Belle. He kissed her again, needing to be as close to her as possible.
He covered her body with his, holding none of his own weight. God, she was small against him. Small and beautiful and so welcoming, but she could handle him. She wasn’t fragile or delicate. Everything about Belle was strong. She didn’t hold back. Instead, she opened her arms and her body, allowing him inside. Not just for pleasure. He’d
had that so many times before. Women asked him to please them. They wanted to be taken care of sexually. But Belle offered to take care of him. She offered to join with him, to merge with him for no other reason than she cared.
He touched her womanly folds, wondering if she was really ready. He was moving so fast. The last thing he wanted to do was harm her in any way. His fingers found the petals of her flesh. They moved easily inside, sliding all around. Her pussy was soft and wet. Ready for his cock.
He spread her wide, unable to wait. He usually had such patience, but now it was blown. He needed her.
She reached around him until her hands found his ass. Her nails sank in, giving him a little jolt of pain that quickly flared into pleasure. She wanted him, too. Belle was with him completely, touch for touch. That made him even more crazy.
He aligned his cock with her sweet opening and started to sink in.
So tight. As he pushed in, Kell closed his eyes in bliss. The plug dragged against his cock, adding another layer of sensation. It would feel the same way when they shared her, when his best friends were right here with him, pleasuring their woman.
Belle pushed up, forcing him in further. He knew he should take more control, but this was different. This was wild and candid, and he didn’t want to change it. He wanted Belle fighting for her pleasure, for the sharp satisfaction they could find in one another’s arms.
He loved the fact that every time seemed different with her. They didn’t have to play the same way. They could explore, give in to their instincts and let their emotions guide them. There was no book he had to follow on the proper way to make love to Belle. They wrote it themselves with every joining, each time a new expression of his feelings for her.
“You feel so good.” Belle looked up at him, desire softening her face.
He thrust deep, his heart thudding in his chest. Even as he penetrated her with slow, hard thrusts—one after the other—she looked up at him with such innocence and trust that she took his breath away. For the first time, he realized that he could take her every day of her life and she would still be innocent and beautiful to him. Belle’s purity was soul deep. She loved with her whole heart, offering every bit of her gorgeous self, inside and out, to him.
“Stay with me.” Belle held him tighter.
Though she asked him to be in the moment with her, the underlying question ripped through him. Stay with her—beyond now, beyond next week or month. Stay with her forever. He wanted to. Fuck, he wanted to be worthy of her, to be the man she needed him to be.
Kellan held her stare as he dove deep and watched as her eyes flared. She tightened around him, whispering his name like a plea.
Between the tight clench of her cunt and the drag of the plug, he couldn’t last long. It was too good. Too right. The only things missing were his partners. He’d thought having her all to himself would be perfect, but he missed his brothers, his best friends. He and Belle were only a part of the puzzle. They weren’t complete without Eric and Tate.
And then it didn’t matter. Nothing did except for her as his balls drew up and his spine tingled. He thrust deep one last time, emptying himself with a shout. She followed him over with a whimper. Then he let himself sink against her, vowing to hold her as long as he could.
* * * *
Belle sighed and sank her fingers into Kellan’s hair, reveling in the softness. It felt like dark silk. She breathed him in, his clean masculine scent mingling with the musk of their sex.
Her heartbeat pounded in her chest, the remnants of pleasure still running through her veins. She loved this time. She loved the sex, but she also craved the soft time afterward, when she was surrounded by her men.
Of course she only had one of her men this time, and if he had his way, she would only have him for a brief time.
Belle had decided that Kellan’s way sucked.
Between reading the last entry in her grandmother’s journal and looking back at her parents’ miserable choices, she’d realized that nothing was certain—except that not fighting for love would lead to heartache. She’d been looking for proof that these three men would always want to be with her, that they would never leave. She’d demanded that the universe guarantee her happiness before she was willing to try grabbing it herself.
It was an arrogant thing to ask. No one got guarantees.
When she’d taken Tate’s hand the night before, she’d finally realized something. Life was an adventure. It was mysterious and could be dangerous. And it was utterly meaningless without them by her side.
All of them.
Her grandmother had left her with far more than a haunted house. Instead, she’d left a legacy of words and pictures and the poignant sadness of her regret. Marie Wright had wanted to reach out to her son, but she’d been afraid for years. Then it had been far too late. Clearly, she’d thought she had more time, but the universe had other plans.
Life didn’t care that she was afraid. Life moved on and it would leave her behind if she didn’t make the choice to fight for her happiness.
Kellan didn’t know it yet, but she wasn’t letting him go without one hell of a fight.
With a long sigh, he rolled off her, taking his warmth with him. He sat up and dealt with the condom, tying it off and wrapping it in a tissue before throwing it into the small trash can by the nightstand. There was something wary about the way his back curved, as though he was trying to protect himself from something. From her.
“Are you going to walk away again?” Belle murmured. She could ask more delicately, she supposed. But he’d asked for her honesty. It was time he repaid the favor.
He turned back, his eyes hooded. “Why did you do this, Belle? Why send everyone away to be with just me?”
“I wanted to. I want to spend time alone with each of you. It doesn’t have to be a crazy orgy every time we make love. Sometimes it can just be the two of us. Tate and Eric both get that. You’re the only one who doesn’t.”
He sighed, but he lay back on the bed, working them both under the covers. “It’s a bad idea. Eric might be fine for now, but Tate won’t like it over time. It’ll make him crazy. Unless you’re planning on keeping this thing casual.”
Kellan would probably love that, but she’d finally figured out that there was nothing casual about any of this. There was nothing casual about love, especially not the depth that she felt. They wanted her to treat sex with reverence. Well, for her, sex came with love, and her men were going to learn that.
“Tate is going to be fine once he realizes he’s going to get what he wants. Mostly, I think he’ll come to love New Orleans. We all have our flaws. One of his is a fear of changing his habits. He’s a moody, broody man-child half the time, but I love him anyway. Eric can play the martyr to perfection. He won’t tell anyone what he needs. I love him anyway, too. And you…”
“Don’t say it.”
She turned on her side, staring down at him. This was exactly the way to have this conversation, naked and with nothing between them. She needed to touch him, hold him. “Why not? You taught me to be honest. You taught me to take this seriously. I’m serious about this, Kellan. About us.”
“I thought you were just playing around. I was under the assumption that you didn’t believe a relationship with the three of us could work long term. I rather thought we were on the same page here.”
“I’m still not sure it will, but how can I know if I don’t try?”
Looking back, she saw that life hadn’t taught her to try. She’d spent her childhood attempting to please a mother who had shut her out. She’d done everything she could to try to get Mom’s attention after her father had died—for a while. Then she’d quit, resigning herself to loneliness and hurt. Was she willing to spend the rest of her life shutting out anyone who might want her because deep inside she was still that kid whose mother couldn’t love her? She had to leave her childhood behind. Comfort the girl by embracing the woman she’d become.
And not everyone had abandoned her.
Kinley had still stood by her. Her grandmother had remembered her. Her father had left her a life lesson, if she chose to see it. Would he be proud of the woman she’d become or would he be disappointed that she’d closed herself off?
If she never opened up, maybe she wouldn’t feel pain, but she also wouldn’t feel joy. Belle was rapidly realizing that joy was worth the risk.
So was love. Kellan had to see that.
“There are a lot of reasons I believed it couldn’t work, but I was wrong. I thought I wasn’t the woman who could heal you.” She willed him to understand.
Kellan turned to her with a frown. “Love, it’s not that.”
“No, it’s not. I realize that now, too. It’s not that I can’t heal the pain from your divorce. It’s that you don’t want to heal. You think you’re safer in your nice little cocoon.”
He frowned and sat up suddenly. “Cocoon? You make it sound like something pleasant, Annabelle. I assure you, it’s not.”
A hard edge sharpened his tone, letting her know that she was pushing his boundaries. He’d pushed all of hers, but she’d known he would probably react poorly. Still, she pressed on because this