He drew the pad of his thumb over the mark he’d made on her shoulder when he bit her.
Charlie’s gaze met his, lingering for long moments. It was affection and understanding too. Charlie had been on the road even longer than Hatch had. He’d been ready to settle into a place for the last two years so the idea of a job like that for Hatch was one he knew Charlie would approve of.
“I’m so hungry. And an ale wouldn’t go remiss either.”
“We’ve been invited to dinner in the Commons. Summer is meeting her sister there at six.”
He kissed the tip of Summer’s nose. “Sounds good. You need to put clothes on and we can walk over together.”
She opened the armoire and pulled a pretty green dress on before reaching back to quickly braid her hair and wrap it in a scrap of deep blue fabric. Hatch lay back on her bed with Charlie, both men watching her while they spoke to one another.
“You all right?” Charlie linked his hand with Hatch.
“It was more intense than I’d intended it to be. I see her and she gives over to me. Even after all that’s been between us, it’s the same and yet so different I’m a little off balance. I just know I need her. I know that your touching her adds to that instead of taking away from it.” He wanted her trust. Yes, she trusted him enough to slap her pussy and fuck her senseless on her kitchen table, but he wanted her to trust him with her heart again.
“What about you? You all right with this? With my feeling so strong about someone else?” Just because triads were commonplace didn’t mean jealousy had been eradicated.
Charlie leaned closer and kissed him. “This is a good thing. She adds to what we have, not subtracts.”
She lined her eyes with kohl and dabbed on some gloss onto her lips before she chose a necklace and came out to join them. One of her brows went up as she took them in. “You two look like you’re up to something.”
Hatch grinned, rolling up to his knees, holding a hand out. She took it and he pulled her to the bed between them.
“Are we going to miss dinner?”
Hatch laughed, kissing her forehead. “No. I’d never get between you and food.”
Charlie pushed against her, pressing her to Hatch. She sighed and her eyes blurred a little. There was a puzzle. What exactly about this she liked?
“I just had you and I want you again.” Charlie kissed her shoulder. “But all the things I plan to do you will take strength and endurance so let’s get her fed, Hatch.”
“Do you have tomorrow off?” Hatch brushed one of her curls away from her forehead.
“Everyone has Saturday off here.”
Hatch moved to stand and helped her up. He pulled her close and twirled her before bringing her back to sway slowly against his body.
“Would you two like to stay over tonight?” She said it as her face rested against his chest, her eyes closed.
“Thank god you asked. I was running out of ways to hint.” Charlie stepped back into his shoes.
Seven
The Commons was buzzing with happy people. “It’s always this way on a Friday night.” She waved at a group of friends who’d called her name.
Ale was being carried around on large trays as servers wended their way through the tables and benches. Sellers hocked wares, mainly food, but also other trinkets. The stalls had lines and the scent of savory food made Charlie’s mouth water.
Summer smiled as they moved through the crowd, relaxed. People’s attention seemed to be drawn to her as she passed.
“There she is.” Summer waved.
Dulce looked a lot like Summer, but her hair was darker, closer to auburn rather than the paler, red-hued blonde her sister had. She was at a table with several other people but there was enough room for the three of them across from Dulce.
Hatch grinned and it appeared Dulce tried to frown, but like most people was helpless in the face of Hatch’s charm when he turned it up all the way.
“Dulce. Sweetness. I need a hug.”
“Can I kick you in the balls first for making my sister cry?”
Hatch sighed and hugged Dulce. “I’m trying to make up for it. I missed you too, you know.”
Dulce’s gaze shifted to Summer, who nodded.
“I missed you too, Hatch Mowbry.”
Hatch looked like he was going to say something else and Summer pinched his side to stop him. Charlie knew he’d probably been about to express condolences to Dulce for losing her family.
“This is Charlie. Charlie, my sister Dulce.”
She gave him the once over before taking his hand and shaking it. “Nice to meet you. Sit. I ordered food and it should be up soon. There’ll be plenty for us all.”
Hatch and Charlie sat with Summer between them. She looked amused as each of them touched her far more than they had to. Though less than he wanted to.
In all his days Charlie’d never felt possessive over anyone. Even with Hatch, the dynamic was different. He knew people desired Hatch. Knew Hatch was propositioned all the time. Hatch got off on it, made him cocky even. But Charlie found it hot. Found it moreso when Hatch was in their bed each night rather than anywhere else.
It wasn’t just a hunger to touch her, to know her better. It was a hunger to possess. To mark her and for everyone to know she was theirs.
He wasn’t alone apparently. Hatch brushed the rope of her braid to her other shoulder so the bite he’d given her showed.
Hatch got up to grab some ale for everyone at the table. Some of them were friends, some of them worked with Summer.
They drank and they had a fantastic meal all while Charlie learned what a great sense of humor Summer had. And, he learned what Hatch was like when he was around her.
She seemed to draw him out. He smiled more. He touched her and Charlie both. Sometimes with affection, sometimes to underline a point and other times, yes, to show everyone around that Summer and Charlie were his.
Summer leaned back against Charlie as she peeled an orange, sharing the slices with him and Hatch both.
Those with children seemed to clear out after the sun had fully set. The atmosphere changed, charged.
Dulce stood. “I’m off home.”
Summer stood as well, moving to her sister, hugging her. “Stay for a while longer?”
Dulce shook her head. “I don’t want this. I don’t know if I ever will. But I am always happy to steal food from your plate and hear you laugh.”
Charlie’s belly cramped at the look of helpless pain on Summer’s face. She turned to him and Hatch. “Be back in a few minutes, I’m just going to walk Dulce home.”
“Let us join you.”
Summer waved Charlie to sit. “Not necessary. I’ll be back.”
Hatch frowned but they watched her walk away with her sister. “She used to be vivacious. Like Summer. The two of them would put on these ridiculous musicals and do all the parts themselves. Sing everything, sew the costumes, all that. She’s somber now.”
“She wears her grief like a cloak.” The woman Summer worked with, Lucy, spoke from where she’d been sitting with her partners. “I’ve known her for two years now. When she first arrived she didn’t speak to anyone. She stayed in her caravan and took on things to repair. She was too thin. Didn’t sleep enough or slept too much. She’s much better since Summer moved here. Losing so much leaves marks that will never entirely heal. They’re good for each other.”
The are you hung in the air, unspoken but not unheard.
“You don’t have to walk me back home, you know. I’m totally capable of making it on my own.”
“Stop being so grumpy. I wanted to.”
“And you wanted my opinion on Hatch and Charlie.”
“You’re wise in many things.”
“It’s only been a few days.”
“I’ve known Hatch Mowbry since I was three-years-old. He’s different now. I’m different now. I…he…I don’t know. I don’t know how to put it into words.”
They kept walking as she tried to puzzle it through
. “He makes me feel alive. But I’m afraid to trust him totally.”
“And Charlie?”
Summer smiled. “He’s easy in some ways. There’s no baggage like there is with Hatch. But there’s major chemistry. He’s sexy. He fits in my life like he’s supposed to be there. I like him. He…sometimes when things get super intense between me and Hatch, he’ll step in between us. Like he interprets Hatch to me. And though I know Hatch so well, maybe sometimes knowing him well makes me hear him less. He’s intense too, in his own way. But where Hatch and I butt heads, he comes at us from the side.” She shrugged. “I’m not really describing it right.”
“Broad was that buffer. Between me and Macon, I mean. We used to fight and fuss and bicker. You remember what a pushy guy Macon was.” Dulce smiled and Summer was just so happy to hear her sister talk about her husbands she didn’t want to ruin that moment. She remained quiet, letting her sister talk.
“Broad knew his way between me and Macon. In all triads that last, one of the people is that buffer. I knew I was in love with Broad about a week after I met him. You’re a vibrant person. Vivacious. You have a sense of who you are. You always have but since you’ve come here and become more independent it’s grown. It fits you well. I’m going to suggest maybe the reason you and Hatch butt heads is because you trust him more than you want to admit and maybe also it’s your way of testing him.”
Summer shrugged. “Maybe. Anyway, I’m not rushing into anything. I’m spending time with them both. I like being around them.”
“They touch you like you’re theirs.”
They did. And she liked it. It settled things inside her head.
“Which is fine. If you are. But men like Hatch, and even seemingly easygoing ones like Charlie don’t play once they lay a claim.”
Summer hugged her sister one last time. “I love you. Thanks for all the advice.”
“It was nice. To talk about them, I mean. Sometimes. No, most of the time it hurts too much so I don’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Don’t be. It was good. I’m glad I did. Love you, Summer.”
She told her sister she loved her too and after Dulce got inside, Summer turned and headed back to the Commons.
The night was perfect. Clear. So clear the stars were bright enough to light the path even without the lamps. She paused at the outer ring of the Commons, just watching Hatch and Charlie with one another.
Charlie’s smile was open, he glowed with it. Hatch’s attention on Charlie was sensual, a slow sort of heat that made her heart kick in her chest and her nipples bead. Being in Hatch’s attention like that was overwhelming. It had been when she was younger and now, the Hatch he was, the Summer she was, it was even hotter.
Charlie’s gaze slid away and found her. He mouthed her name and Hatch turned around, all that heated attention on her.
She stood rooted to the spot.
They stood, nearly in unison and walked over her way. She found herself with a hand at her throat, the impact of them both looking at her that way was so intense.
“I think you should dance with us.” Hatch held out a hand and she took it. Charlie took the other and they led her out to the middle where a dance floor had been corded off.
Hatch let go and Charlie twirled her into a circle and then into his arms as they swayed. He smelled really good and she kissed his neck, just at the line of his beard.
He dipped her and she looked up at Hatch, who wore a smile that flattered her, sped her heart. He wanted her, that much was naked on his face.
When Charlie brought her upright, he spun her again, straight into Hatch’s arms.
He slid his hands down her arms and tangled his fingers with hers, bringing her hands to his mouth to kiss them. His cock was hard against her belly when he pulled her close again.
She slid her arms around his neck and Charlie moved behind her, his hands at her waist.
She gave over to them, let them handle her, move her how they wanted, embracing the sweet intoxication of it as she did.
“Remember my promise?” Hatch spoke against her mouth as he kissed her.
The back of her head rested against Charlie’s shoulder.
“Promise?”
“About making you come.” Hatch’s smile was wicked and sexy, full of promise.
Oh that one.
“I never forget promises about orgasms.”
Charlie’s laugh stirred the curl that had broken free of her braid, tickling her ear.
Charlie caressed her hips and then moved to her waist, up the front of her body to her breasts.
“Show them to me, Charlie.”
Charlie’s nimble fingers pulled the bodice of her dress open, exposing her breasts. The night air against heated skin was a little startling.
She’d watched. Plenty of times. Had been watched when she’d been with Jemmy, by his partners. But never in public. Not this way.
Charlie played with her nipples until she didn’t care who was watching. The music played still as the three of them moved together. The rhythm of it was perfect. A slow, sensual undulation as Hatch stroked the line of his cock against her pussy. Behind her Charlie slid his cock against her ass from side to side. His hands on her nipples, his mouth against her ear.
Eyes on them, yes. But she couldn’t tear her attention away from Hatch, who looked at her like he wanted to eat her up in three bites.
Hatch gathered the hem of her dress in his hands, pulling it up a little at a time, exposing her legs, then her thighs.
He hissed. “You’re bare.”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Gonna make you come for me right now.”
She swallowed, letting him.
His fingers slid through her pussy, up into her body. Her hips jutted forward as her body sucked his fingers deeper.
“Hot and wet. All for us?”
She nodded.
Hatch pulled his fingers from her and she sighed wistfully. Then he painted her lips with them and kissed her hard. Her taste mixed with his. There was a taste of Charlie there too and she arched into Hatch to get more.
“I want some of that too,” Charlie murmured.
Hatch pulled away from her mouth and bringing his fingertips to Charlie’s mouth, drawing them over his lips in much the same way he had with Summer. Summer turned her head to watch as Hatch then leaned in to lick over Charlie’s mouth. She gasped at how hot it was.
She reached back with one of her arms and put it around Charlie’s neck. He turned, mid-kiss with Hatch. “Let me have some of that mouth.”
They both met her in a kiss then. Of three. Tongues and lips, the edge of teeth. She gasped again when Hatch’s fingers returned to her cunt, grasping her clit between the pads of his thumb and middle finger.
“People are watching us, Summer. Watching my hands on you, between your thighs. Watching Charlie play with your nipples. Your hips churning as you ride my hand. You want it and they all know it.”
There was no denying it. Her body couldn’t make her a liar.
“Yes.”
“You’re mine. Mine and Charlie’s.”
She didn’t answer. Instead she sucked in a breath as climax shot through her. She turned her face into Charlie’s neck as she sobbed her release, barely even registering it as her dress hem fell back into place and Hatch pressed against her, hugging her and Charlie to him.
“I’m so hard I’m not sure I can walk,” Charlie said as he kissed her temple and then Hatch’s lips.
“Hobble back to our table. I’ll buy you an ale.”
“Funnel cake.”
Hatch grinned as they moved back to their table. The dance floor had filled with others. All around people kissed, petted, snuggled, some fucked or sucked. The entire Commons hummed with sexual and sensual energy.
“Funnel cake. I haven’t had any in so long. Years. You can have as much as you want.”
Summer smiled and looked to Charlie as they sat. “One of my dads made funnel cakes d
uring the holiday season. My mother loves them.”
Hatch put an arm around her shoulders as he waited to get the attention of the ale server. “Does she still make that jam to go with it?”
“Strawberry and blackberry. There are hills full of berry bushes near their house in Portland. She goes out and collects them. It used to be my dad’s job. Yancy, he died four years ago. It’s sort of her little tribute to him when she does it. Anyway.”
Hatch sighed, playing with the tail of her braid. “I sent your mother a letter.”
Summer turned to him, surprised. “You did? About what?”
“My condolences. I should have done it a long time ago.”
“Okay then.”
“That’s all you’ve got to say?”
She’d been trying to walk that line. They were having a perfectly lovely evening and she didn’t want to start a fight. But that he hadn’t actually written her mother or contacted her in any way was a problem for Summer.
“What do you want? A blue ribbon for expressing your condolences—four years late—to someone whose table you sat at for at least seventy percent of your childhood?”
“Hey, that’s harsh.” Charlie tapped her hand.
She pulled her hand back, narrowing her gaze at him. “Is it? Come on. What am I supposed to say to that? Or I guess I should ask what is an acceptable way to answer that? Should you prepare comments for me first since you’re both so uncomfortable with my true feelings?”
“I didn’t say that. He’s trying and you slapped him for it.”
“You did say that actually. He made a statement. I replied. He could have left it at that but he pushed. I answered. My dad died. It was ugly. He had Park-B type one cancer. You can’t possibly imagine what it was like to watch him just waste away. He was six and a half feet tall. Hale. Hearty and strong. He was barely a hundred pounds when he died. It took her four months after that before she left the house. Don’t you tell me what’s harsh. You don’t know anything about it. I don’t need anyone to police my feelings. You understand me? You can fuck me and eat my pussy but no one owns my feelings but me. No one gets to tell me what is and isn’t okay to feel.”