That finished Stuart and his orgasm swelled, burst. Brandon grunted his approval as he started fucking Stuart hard, fast, pounding him, the sound of their flesh slapping together filling the bedroom.

  “Yes!” Brandon took one last, hard stroke inside him and fell still, moving Stuart’s legs, pulling them around his waist so he could stretch out on top of him. Brandon felt his cum squished between them from where it’d landed all over his and Brandon’s stomachs when he’d exploded.

  Stuart wished he could wrap his arms around Brandon, but the restraints kept him in place. Instead, he nuzzled his chin against the top of Brandon’s head.

  “Such a good boy,” Brandon whispered. “My good boy. You did exactly what your Sir asked you to do.”

  “Thank you, Sir. I love you.”

  Brandon kissed his chest. “Love you, too. I know I need to move, but I love this.”

  “Me, too, Sir.”

  He lifted his head and kissed Stuart’s chin before staring into his eyes. “You are going to be sooo fucking horny by the time we go to bed tomorrow night.” He grinned.

  He finally unclipped Stuart and they headed to the bathroom to clean up.

  But he made Stuart keep his cuffs and collar on. On weeknights, Brandon usually didn’t require them to wear them to bed, even though he and Jeff loved wearing them.

  As Stuart cuddled in Brandon’s arms he inhaled, loving the scent of him and missing having Jeff there, his additional scent, the three of them usually covered in each other by the time they collapsed after making love.

  “Thank you, Sir,” he whispered.

  “You’re welcome, boy, but for what?”

  “For giving me a forever family where I feel like I belong.”

  Brandon’s arms tightened around him, his voice sounding choked when he finally spoke again. “If you think I’m about to let either one of you go, think again. I love you both. I wish I could marry both of you. So we’re going to leave the marrying discussion alone for a while. Ed will work up a trust for us, and other paperwork, that will legally give us what we need to protect us.”

  And like that, Stuart was able to happily fall asleep in his Sir’s arms.

  Chapter Seven

  Calvin went with Sylvie early the next morning to pick up the truck while Iris and Jeff worked in the house. They returned with coffee and bagels for everyone and as they stood at the kitchen counter, Sylvie looked around.

  “It feels weird being here now. Like once I’d decided to leave, it didn’t feel like home anymore. It’s never really felt like ‘mine,’ even though it was supposed to be for me.”

  “Well, when you get back to Florida, remember that you’re welcome to stay with us as long as you need to,” Iris said. “We meant it. We already emptied the guest room for you.”

  “Thanks. I’m hoping I won’t need to be there longer than a couple of weeks. I have to be careful with my money until I’m getting paid again. And thanks for hooking me up with that friend of yours for a job. Thank god Florida has reciprocity with Connecticut. I already got my Florida license a couple of months ago, knowing I was going to do this. I told Morse it was because the only guy we had in our office licensed to sell real estate in Florida had moved on. And that was true. Made sense, since I’m from Florida, to get the license.”

  “Um, aren’t we in New Hampshire?” Jeff asked. “What’s that have to do with Connecticut?”

  Sylvie finally smiled, one of the few times he’d seen her smile since their arrival. “I’m licensed here, in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Florida…and Connecticut.”

  “Um…wow, but why?”

  “We deal a lot with people across state lines. Some of the people in our office are also licensed in New York and New Jersey. I’m not, because we had plenty who were, and I wasn’t planning on going off on my own.”

  “Did you tell any of them that you’re leaving?” Iris asked.

  She shook her head. “Couldn’t risk it accidentally getting back to Morse. I hate to just walk away from my job without notice, but I know they’ll understand. They all dislike Morse. I told them I was taking this weekend off to get a bunch of chores done I’ve been putting off around the house. I haven’t taken a full weekend off in months.”

  “At least you’ve got a plan,” Jeff said. “And if you need help moving again when you get your own place, let me know. I can round up extra help.”

  “Thank you. I’m just so thankful to be getting out of here.” She looked around again. All weekend, she’d borne a sort of shell-shocked air. “Looking back, I can’t believe it took me this long to make the break. Except this was his first out-of-town trip in months where I knew he couldn’t return early. The others have been close by. Close enough I knew he might come home for the night. And sometimes he did. Being across the country with a girlfriend to bang, and non-refundable tickets his company bought for him, he’s been too busy to do so much as text me.”

  * * * *

  Everything went quickly from that point on. They all waited to take showers until after the truck was loaded and they were ready to leave.

  And after they all helped carefully check the dogs for ticks one last time.

  They pulled out of Sylvie’s driveway well ahead of schedule, with Jeff driving the truck and Calvin riding shotgun, a few minutes after four thirty Saturday afternoon. They drove as long as they could, stopped for the night, and drove all day Sunday. It was after midnight early Monday morning when they arrived at Iris and Calvin’s house.

  Instead of unloading the truck that time of night, Jeff went home to sleep, and would rejoin them in the morning to finish.

  It was after one in the morning when he quietly unlocked the front door and crept in. Instead of disturbing Brandon and Stuart, he went to his bedroom, stripped, and face-planted onto his bed.

  That was the last thing he knew before he had a great dream about Stuart sucking his cock.

  Except in the dream, when he reached down between his legs to slide his fingers through Stuart’s hair and then tightly fist it, he really felt Stuart’s hair.

  Jeff’s eyes popped open. Lifting his head, he spotted Stuart between his legs, Jeff’s cock in his mouth all the way to the root.

  “Yoo sthuck in lath night,” he mumbled around Jeff’s cock.

  “Yes, I snuck in. I didn’t want to wake you guys.” He stroked Stuart’s brown hair. “Is Emma gone already?”

  “Yeth.”

  “Where’s Sir?”

  “Thower.”

  “You going to get in trouble by being in here?”

  “No. Sthaid I could. Sthaid to sthave energy for him for wader.”

  Jeff smiled. Stuart did have a knack for being able to talk with his mouth full. It always amused him and Brandon when he did, too.

  “Then go to town, buddy.” He buried his hands in Stuart’s hair and started rocking his hips against Stuart’s face.

  The man had an amazing mouth. Even though Stuart had never been with a guy before the three of them first met, he hadn’t wasted any time catching up and learning.

  Cock worship was one of Stuart’s favorite things, and Brandon and Jeff were happy to be on the receiving end of his skills. After several days away from the men he loved, it was nice being able to finally blow some built-up tension.

  Stuart worked his way lower, swirling his tongue around Jeff’s balls, back up his shaft, lingering around the head and tracing the ridge before enveloping it with his lips and slowly sucking him deep again.

  Heaven…

  “Missed you,” Jeff whispered. Stuart’s soft sigh in response lightly hummed through Jeff’s cock.

  It didn’t take long for Stuart to build him up to a really good, hard orgasm. When Jeff felt himself get close, he tightened his grip on Stuart’s head and started fucking his mouth, Stuart holding on for the ride at that point. Jeff exploded, Stuart also moaning as he eagerly swallowed every hot drop Jeff pumped down his throat.

  Finally, sated, his grip on St
uart’s head relaxed as the man wrapped his arms around Jeff’s legs.

  He still held Jeff’s spent cock in his mouth.

  Jeff stroked Stuart’s hair. “Come up here and cuddle.”

  Stuart wasted no time climbing up the bed, where he kissed Jeff. “Missed you.”

  “Missed you, too, buddy.”

  “Everything go okay?”

  “Just a long drive. I have to go back to Iris and Calvin’s this morning and help unload. Stuff that’s staying there at the house, then to the storage unit to unload everything else there.” While Jeff talked, one of Stuart’s hands drifted down to cup Jeff’s balls.

  “I’m so glad you’re home. It was weird without you here. Even Emma said that.”

  “How’d the swim meet go?”

  “Great. She got three firsts and a third in her events.”

  “Aw, I missed it.”

  “We taped it for you.”

  “Thanks.” Stuart’s fingers had stopped roaming, but seemed to be going over the same territory, as if…exploring. And he had an odd look on his face. “I don’t think I can get it up again that soon, babe. And you need to get to work.”

  “No, I felt something.”

  Jeff was almost sure his heart skipped a beat, his mind immediately going to the worst-case scenario. “What?”

  “Like a bump.” Stuart turned on the lamp next to the bed and turned around, pushing Jeff’s thighs apart and—

  “Shit, it’s a tick!”

  “What?” Jeff wasn’t sure exactly how he got from the bed into the hall bathroom. He was reasonably sure it might have involved levitation, but he wouldn’t swear to it. “Shit shit shit!”

  Sure enough, with one foot hiked up on the counter, and holding his sac out of the way, he could see the little fucker.

  Stuart had followed him to the bathroom. “Get it off me!” Jeff shrieked.

  “Okay, hold still.”

  Brandon, hair wet and a towel wrapped around his hips, appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?”

  “We have a ball tick,” Stuart said as he knelt under Jeff.

  “If that’s some sort of code for a new fetish, you both have to run it past me first. You realize that, right?”

  “No, Sir,” Jeff said. “I literally have a tick on my balls.” He winced as Stuart pulled it free. “Did you get the whole thing? Is the head there?”

  Brandon leaned in to look at it with Stuart. “I’d make a joke about just the tip, but that’d be gross.”

  “It’s all there,” Stuart said.

  “Flush it,” Brandon told him.

  Jeff reached for rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and winced as he swabbed the whole area, liberally dousing it. “Please tell me I don’t have any others hiding up there.” He suppressed a shudder of revulsion.

  Brandon arched an eyebrow. “Aaannnd on that note, I’m going to go get dressed. Please make sure you wash and dry your clothes that went with you on the hottest setting possible to kill any stragglers.” He leaned in and kissed Jeff.

  “Good point, Sir.”

  “And welcome home, boy. We missed you.”

  “Thanks. Missed you, too, Sir.”

  Stuart helped him search, and Jeff was glad he had no reason to feel embarrassed by leaning over and spreading his ass cheeks wide for Stuart to get a good look.

  “Well, at least Sir makes us shave,” Stuart said. “Be glad for that. This makes it easier.”

  “I am. Believe me.”

  After a thorough search, Stuart declared him tick free.

  “Well, since I’m wide awake now,” Jeff said, “I’ll grab a shower with you.”

  He pinned Stuart against the shower wall by the throat and jacked him off, just to be fair.

  After all, finding a tick after a blow job was sort of above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak. Still, now Jeff couldn’t help but notice every random sensation on his skin that remotely resembled something creepy-crawly.

  As they dried off after, Jeff pulled him in for a hug. “Thanks, buddy. Sorry for the unintended hitchhiker.”

  “How’d you get a tick?”

  “Probably from Sylvie’s dogs. Her backyard was full of them and they ended up on the dogs. I helped her bathe and dip them when she found them. I must have picked it up then.”

  “Remind me I need to mow the backyard tonight.”

  “Oh, her grass was way higher in the back. She had other priorities, like packing.”

  “Is she going to be okay? Will he come after her?”

  “I think she’s safe. She doesn’t think he’ll follow her here, and all she cared about were her dogs and the furniture. Besides, he doesn’t know where she is now. She and Iris were making bets on how long it’d take him to move one of his girlfriends into the house now that she’s gone.”

  “What an asshole.”

  “Yep. Sounds like a real charmer…not.”

  While Stuart went to get dressed, Jeff pulled on briefs and a pair of shorts—after checking them carefully for ticks even though they came from his dresser—and headed for the kitchen.

  Brandon stood at the counter, sipping his coffee and going through his work phone, probably checking his e-mail.

  “Good morning, Sir.”

  Brandon set down the coffee and the phone and pulled him in for a kiss. “I take it you’re now tick-free?”

  “I hope so.”

  “Did you like the wake-up surprise?”

  He smiled. “Very much, Sir. Thank you.”

  “He rode me ragged last weekend. I was happy to turn him loose on you.” He released Jeff after patting him on the ass. “I definitely need your help keeping him worn out.”

  “Glad to know I was missed.”

  “Greatly.”

  Stuart joined them, now dressed for work.

  “Are you all done now?” Brandon asked Jeff. “Or is there more unloading to do?”

  “More unloading. I’ll head over there soon, now that I’m awake.”

  “Emma and Grace want to cook dinner for you tonight. They feel bad you missed our feast Saturday night. They’re stopping for groceries on the way home.”

  “Aww. That’s sweet.” He rested his head on Brandon’s shoulder. “Thank you, Sir.”

  “For what?”

  “For everything. For this. For us. The three of us. And Emma.”

  “Remember that during our collaring ceremony this weekend.” Brandon wore what Jeff had dubbed his “evil Dom grin.”

  Stuart perked up, looking nervous. “Sir?”

  Brandon waggled his eyebrows. “No hints. You’ll just have to wait.”

  “Yes, Sir,” they echoed.

  Brandon sipped his coffee. “Ah, stereo. How I missed it.”

  Chapter Eight

  Over the next several days, as Jeff returned to his usual routine—still obsessively checking himself for ticks—he realized something.

  I’m about to be collared.

  Not just him, but Stuart, too.

  It wasn’t only a matter of them belonging to Brandon. He and Stuart were more than simply property to the man. Brandon loved them and belonged to them as much as they loved and belonged to him.

  Emotionally, this was every bit as binding to all of them as a wedding. Ed was working on the legal paperwork they’d need, and maybe one day one of them would marry Brandon.

  In Jeff’s mind, he didn’t care. The paperwork would give them legal protections. Taxes might be a little iffy, but Scrye had already given them some free advice, and they’d be taking everything to him when it was time to file together as a “household.”

  Friday morning, Jeff was in the master bathroom when Stuart walked in. Jeff had one foot up on the counter and his balls held to the side as he tried to get a look under them in the mirror.

  “Does that look red to you?” Jeff asked him.

  “Your balls?”

  “Where you found the tick. Is there a bulls-eye?”

  Stuart turned his head and leaned in. “I
t doesn’t look red-red. It looks like it’s pink because you keep rubbing it. I think it’s healed over though.”

  “I put rubbing alcohol on it again this morning.”

  “Ow. I don’t see a mark there anymore.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “If you’re that worried, go to the doctor and have them check out your balls.”

  He put his foot down. “I don’t want to blow a copay for that.”

  “I’ll blow you. Besides, that’s my job.” Stuart wore a playful smile, but Jeff was serious. Apparently Stuart realized that, because his smile faded. “I mean, it looks like it’s pink because you’re freaked out over ticks and keep rubbing it. But that little bump where the tick was is gone.” He pulled Jeff in for a kiss.

  Brandon walked in with his coffee. “Is he still worried about ticks?”

  “Yes,” Stuart said.

  Brandon set his coffee down. “Go see the doctor if you’re worried.”

  “I’m going to look weird if I go have a doctor look at my balls when there’s nothing wrong with them.”

  Stuart snorted. “You look weird standing with one foot on the counter and trying to stare at them in the mirror. What happens if you slip and fall? Explain that to the ambulance crew. ‘How’d you fall, Mr. Ortiz? Oh, I was staring at my junk in the mirror.’”

  Brandon laughed. “Sorry, but that is funny.”

  Jeff glared at them.

  * * * *

  Brandon got it, that Jeff was concerned. Probably because he’d found another tick—this one dead—in his dirty clothes when he’d gone through them on Monday.

  If Stuart had picked a tick off Brandon’s balls, he’d be acting the same as Jeff, most likely.

  “Buddy, seriously, if you’re that worried, make a doctor appointment. But rubbing the spot is only going to keep making it pink.”

  Jeff finally blew out a long breath. “I’m overreacting, aren’t I?”

  Brandon shook his head. “No—”

  “Yes,” Stuart said at the same time.

  They stared at each other, Brandon arching an eyebrow at Stuart, who ducked behind Jeff while still holding on to him.