The Strength of Three Read online

  The scenery from the airport to their house passed in a blur. Her head felt foggy, her legs like Jell-O and despite the nap, Chris felt like she could sleep for another whole day and still be tired.

  Yet her body was practically bathed in their cologne, all thanks to the way they’d snuggled on the plane. Her fingers itched in her lap and twice she’d had to force the toes of her left foot to stop tapping. The fabric of her blouse rubbed incessantly on her nipples to the point she wanted to reach up and fondle them herself.

  She took a deep breath and stared out the window, desperate for something to distract her from the two men occupying the car with her. The two men who’d lent her support when she needed it most. A time when she’d never imagined having such support, let alone that two men would be the ones providing it.

  For so long she’d seen them as eye candy. She’d told herself—to save her sanity most of all—that they were men who flitted from one bimbo to the next seeking only the pleasure of their bodies and not their minds. God, she’d been such an idiot. The truth had been staring her in the face day in and day out and because she hadn’t wanted to take a chance, she’d been too stupid to see how far from her perception Jon and TJ truly were.

  They weren’t in it for the sex. They were in it, in her, for a relationship. A long-lasting relationship, and if she hadn’t taken that leap of faith the other night with TJ and Jon, she might still be stuck up in Chicago dealing with the ramifications of her father killing her mother instead of here with them sheltering her.

  “Almost home, baby. You still tired?” TJ turned the BMW into the neighborhood lined with massive homes, century-old oaks and beautiful landscaping. In the light of day and without the heavy weight of her mother’s death smashing her, she looked at the area with new eyes. Stunning was an apt word. The rich lived here and TJ and Jon had their fair share of wealth.

  “Yes,” she murmured. Except a part of her woke up with the way his voice made her body tingle. She squirmed in her seat. Jon reached over from his position beside her in the backseat and threaded his fingers through hers.

  She’d been more than ready for them back on the plane. Hell, when she’d been stripping off her clothes it had felt like a race to see who would get done first. Instead they’d wrapped her in a man burrito and held her while she’d slept. They’d still been there when the plane had landed and she’d woken.

  Would they put her off again? Because honestly, she didn’t think she could handle being coddled. She wanted something to take her mind off everything that had happened in the last few days and hopefully they understood they could provide the something.

  TJ pulled up to an all-brick, expansive ranch sitting on a huge tract of land she hadn’t really seen yet. The first time she’d been here it had been getting dark and she’d been, well, blindfolded, and then they’d left in the wee morning hours when it had still been dark, first to drop off Clodhopper with Aislinn and Kyle and then on to her childhood home. Now, she was getting her first good look at TJ and Jon’s home and she really liked what she saw. You could probably fit three houses between theirs and their neighbors’ and still have room to spare. She envisioned a tiny little girl running across the lawn, laughing. Chris shook her head to dispel the thought. Children? She snorted.

  “Problems?” Jon leaned into her and glanced out her window as if looking for whatever she found amusing.

  Heat seared her cheeks. “No, just glad to be home.” She jerked around and faced him. It was now or never. “You won’t…er, um, hold back will you?”

  TJ brought the car to a stop. One of Jon’s eyebrow’s rose. “Hold back?”

  Chris fidgeted. Why was it so hard to say what she wanted? “I don’t want to be held.” There. That ought to do it.

  “You don’t want to be held?” His words sounded hurt but his face held a touch of amusement. The rat was having a good time pretending not to understand her. She lunged at him, attacking his lips with her mouth and giving him no room for misunderstanding.

  “Well, hell. I for one am extremely grateful there will be no holding involved.” TJ shoved his door open and jumped out. Lips still locked on Jon’s, Chris watched TJ from the corner of her eye as he jogged around the hood and came to her door. He flung it open and hauled her out with his hands under her armpits. Jon followed, barely breaking their contact.

  She found herself shepherded toward the front door, pushed inside and thrust into a serious sense of déjà vu. She’d been in this spot before, that first night. This time they didn’t stop inside the door but pushed her down the hall, kissing and touching her wherever they could reach along the way.

  Everything fled her mind except being closer to her men. Just for this few minutes—or hours, whatever the case may be—she wanted to forget the ugliness her father had wrought and be free.

  The bedroom was dim with the shades drawn but she saw everything clearly. They came to a stop in the middle of the room. Jon stepped up behind her, pressing his cock into the small of her back. TJ dropped to his knees in front of her, taking her skirt and panties with him, over her hips and down her legs.

  “Step out.” He tapped each knee and in the process, placed her feet where he wanted them, she guessed, because she ended up with her legs spread wide open.

  Her knees threatened to buckle when TJ spread her labia with his thumbs and blew on the heated flesh.

  Chris let her head fall back on Jon’s chest and reached back to grip his hair. He chuckled in her ear, his fingers twirling and pinching the tips of her breasts beneath her shirt before stripping it up and over her head. Every ounce of her blood must have surged into her sex and nipples, as sensitive as they both were. TJ’s tongue slid through her sopping wet folds with ease, from back to front, and ended at the tiny bulge of her clit. He circled the nub and sucked it into his mouth.

  “Oh God.” She started to sink to the ground only to be held up by Jon.

  “Uh-uh, sugar. TJ’s not done with you yet,” Jon murmured, his tongue sliding into her ear canal. She bit her lip. She couldn’t take much more and she was sure they’d just begun.

  Again and again TJ lapped at her, slurping her cream and feasting on her. He’d never get enough of her. His cock was hard as a rock but he didn’t dare touch it. He wanted to be buried inside this pretty little pussy before he exploded.

  TJ wrapped his lips around her clit peeking out from beneath its hood and she shot to her toes. If Jon weren’t holding her up, TJ was sure she’d have melted to the floor a long time ago.

  He took one last swipe and stood, showering her belly and breasts with kisses on the way.

  “Your body’s all flushed, baby. Nice and wet and ready for us.”

  Chris licked her lips. He had a better place for that tongue of hers.

  TJ palmed her right cheek. Her nostrils flared with each panting breath.

  “I need to feel your mouth on my cock, baby. On your knees.” He freed his erection from the confines of his pants and boxers and shoved both down to his knees.

  For a split second her eyes widened. Then she swallowed and sank to the ground as if she’d done it a thousand times. He knew from the first night and her tentativeness at going down on Jon she hadn’t. Still, when her lips wrapped around the head of his cock and drew on it, his eyes rolled back in his head and he nearly lost his balance.

  Who needed experience when you had raw talent and enthusiasm?

  “Shit,” he growled when she swept over the bundle of nerves near the tip. Fuck, she seemed to know exactly where to touch, how hard to suck, how much to take in— “Uhn.”

  Jon grunted in laughter and stripped his clothes off. “Now you know.”

  TJ grasped her hair in his hands and held her still on his cock. Jesus. Thirty seconds in her hot mouth and he was ready to come. Obviously her tentativeness had gone by the wayside.

  “No more,” he groaned and pulled away. Shiny wet, his cock twitched in protest. TJ lifted his chin. “On the bed.”

  He smiled wh
en she readily obeyed. Her ass wiggled as she climbed up and crawled across the bed, giving him a fantastic peek at the rosy aperture between firm cheeks. TJ nodded at Jon, who turned and grabbed a duffle bag from the floor near the foot of the bed.

  Two steps later, TJ kicked his pants off and knelt on the bed behind her. Chris turned, a heated look on her face.

  Her pussy glistened between her thighs, beckoning him in.

  “Raise your leg, baby.” TJ patted the thigh he wanted moved and slid beneath her so she straddled him. She gasped as his cock trailed a line of his pre-come across her hip and nudged the folds of her pussy.

  “You’re going to take me in both, aren’t you?” There was a hint of fear in her words but her eyes held a touch of excitement. Her pulse hammered at the V of her neck. TJ tilted his head and placed a soft kiss there.

  “I’m going to have help,” he murmured and fingered her nipples. She arched her back like a kitten and purred.

  TJ watched as Jon ran his hands over the globes of her ass. “Perfect.”

  Chris’s forehead landed on TJ’s chest. “Is this gonna hurt?”

  Both he and Jon burst out laughing. God he loved her.

  Stunned at the direction of his thoughts, TJ lifted Chris’s head with his thumb under her chin.

  “You will take us both and you will love it, baby.”

  Her eyes glittered. Jon held up a tube of lubricant and TJ gave a slight nod.

  “What if I…don’t?” she squealed when Jon’s finger penetrated the tight ring of muscles of her ass.

  TJ reached for her clit and circled it.

  “Shit.” Her head dropped and her body shook above him.

  “You will.”

  “Relax, sugar, let me stretch you.”

  Chris whined but her hips pushed as if she didn’t know which way to go. Forward into the touch at her clit, or back onto the finger working its way into her ass.

  “Uhn.”

  “That’s a girl.”

  TJ saw Jon coat his fingers again with the lube and then he pressed into her a second time. He must have used two fingers this time because Chris hissed and shot forward. TJ took advantage of the exceptional placement of her breasts and sucked a nipple into his mouth.

  “Son of a… Oh God. Please,” she begged.

  When she settled, he released her nipple with a pop. “Payback’s a bitch,” she growled.

  TJ grinned. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

  “Teej, I can’t wait anymore.” Jon withdrew and grabbed hold of her hips.

  “Me either.” TJ guided his cock to her slick opening. “Come down on me, Chris.”

  She whimpered as she slowly impaled herself on his straining cock, her inner muscles gripping him until his eyes crossed.

  Jon’s hips pressed forward.

  TJ expected her to balk or put a stop to their double penetration. Sweat beaded Jon’s forehead and chest as he worked his cock into her ass.

  What he didn’t expect was for her to throw her head back and shout, “Keep going. Keep going.”

  TJ felt Jon’s erection creeping along his with only the thin barrier of tissue separating them. When Jon was seated fully, TJ withdrew. Chris sucked in a deep breath and practically followed his cock, which in turn pulled her off Jon.

  “Stay still.” TJ gripped her hips and slammed into her. He and Jon set up a rhythm, penetrating and withdrawing, sliding into her body like they’d done this a thousand times. She was perfect. Perfect for both of them and they wouldn’t let her go. Somehow they had to make her see.

  None of them lasted more than a few minutes.

  “I need to…I…please let me…” she cried.

  “Yeah, baby. Come for us,” TJ broke in. He reached between them and pressed on her exposed clit. Her body seized and she screamed. TJ yanked her hips down and Jon thrust in. Both of them pumped into her at the same time, spurting their come deep inside her body.

  Chris collapsed, sprawling her body over TJ’s. Jon withdrew from her body and rolled to their side, one hand still on her back, stroking and caressing her as all their breathing slowed.

  Finally TJ pulled from her sheath and twisted until she was lying between him and Jon. He flipped a lock of hair from her face. Her eyes drooped but a smile graced her lips, and he kissed the tip of her nose.

  “Sleep, baby. I think we could all use a nap.” TJ yawned and snuggled closer to the woman he loved.

  Chapter Seven

  Chris tapped her foot impatiently. TJ and Jon were in Kyle’s office, not fifteen feet away and it was too far.

  “Shit.” As if the last three days spent lazing in their bed hadn’t been enough. Only thirty minutes had passed since they’d left her at her desk before their meeting. Not quite lunchtime yet but already this morning she hadn’t been able to pull herself from their presence for more than five minutes.

  What the hell was happening to her?

  Love.

  The word slammed into her like a baseball bat to the forehead.

  Friday night and the bar seemed like a lifetime away. Her one-night fling had turned into more of a five-nighter and she couldn’t see it ending anytime soon.

  Didn’t want to see it ending.

  The thought should have scared her to death. So why did she want so badly to always be a part of them? Why did the mere thought of them being with another woman make her want to throw up?

  “Oh, sweetie, how are you?” Aislinn’s voice pierced her vision like a needle in a balloon, popping the image of TJ and Jon pleasuring some bimbo.

  Aislinn came around the desk and wrapped her arms around Chris’s body. “Kyle told me what happened. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Are you okay? You guys were gone before I knew about it. I should have been there for you.”

  Chris nodded. “I know you would have.” She squeezed her best friend back. “It all happened so fast and I didn’t think about calling anyone. TJ and Jon kind of took over and swept us all away. I’ll be okay.” She took a deep breath. “I think, in the back of my mind, I always knew it would happen this way. I’m kind of surprised it didn’t happen sooner.” Her throat closed up and tears threatened again. She still couldn’t shake the image of her mother lying at the foot of the stairs and she was more than relieved she hadn’t actually seen it.

  “So he was arrested. He confessed and everything?”

  “In a manner of speaking.”

  “And what about your brother?”

  Chris picked up a pen from her desk and twirled it between her finger and thumb. “I don’t know. I never heard from him after we left the police station. Last I saw he was spouting something about suing everyone within hearing distance. It was enough to make me leave and never look back.”

  Aislinn had a sympathetic look on her face. She patted Chris’s hand in understanding then a grin curved her lips.

  “Lunch at Miguel’s? You need a good bowl of tortilla soup.”

  “Absolutely.” This was exactly what she needed. A return to normalcy and lunch with her best friend at the café around the corner where they ate almost every day.

  “Great. Let’s go early.” Aislinn practically bounced.

  Chris eyeballed the closed door to Kyle’s office. Aislinn turned to follow her gaze. Her smile grew bigger than ever. “I’m taking it the fling went very well.”

  “More than you’ll ever know,” Chris muttered, standing to grab her purse. Thank God she wasn’t as tender between her legs anymore. The first couple of days had been a little awkward. Her walking bow-legged, when they’d let her up long enough to walk must have been amusing.

  “Oh my God, girl. I am so getting all the juicy details at lunch.”

  Christina snorted just as the office door opened. Jon poked his head out. “Where are you ladies headed off to?”

  “Lunch,” they answered together and giggled as they walked away. Chris’s heart pounded. It actually felt strange to leave their presence. Like a string was pull
ing her back, urging her not to go far. Aislinn looped her hand around Chris’s elbow.

  “Be careful,” Jon growled.

  “Oh Lord,” Aislinn sighed dramatically. “How did we both get saddled with overprotective brutes?”

  “I don’t know.” But I’m not inclined to find out how to get unsaddled.

  Ten minutes later they were sitting at their usual outdoor table and gave the waiter, Manuel, their order. Chris lifted her face to the sun, letting it warm her. The past several days had been such a blur, she felt like she was in some kind of time warp.

  The skin prickled along the back of her neck. She snapped her gaze around.

  “So tell me everything and don’t leave anything out.” Aislinn’s words came from a distance.

  Chris didn’t see anyone in particular but the feeling of unease wouldn’t leave.

  “I want all the details.”

  Sweat trickled between her breasts and shoulder blades.

  “Are they as good as the rumors say they are? Not that it’s any of my business, but what good is being best friends if you can’t share? Chris? Hey, Chris.”

  Their surroundings came slamming back into Chris. The tinkling of dishes, chattering among the other outdoor patrons, birds chirping, a car honking, the breeze lifting her hair. She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head to clear it of the eerie feeling.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?” Aislinn touched Chris’s forearm with light fingers.

  Chris lifted the glass of ice water and took a long drink. “I’m fine. Just got the feeling I was being watched or something.”

  Aislinn craned her neck and twisted in her seat. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Me neither.” Chris gave a tight laugh. “Too bad your vision thing doesn’t work on command.” She was only half joking. It might be kind of nice to see the future.