The Strength of Three (10 page)

Beyond the closed door was a big bed. For now it would have to suffice for snuggling under the covers. TJ’s concern-filled gaze met hers. He walked away from the steward, leaving the other man talking to his back, and stopped a foot away from her. He lifted a hand, palm up. “Come on.”

His gravelly voice sent a frisson of pleasure through her when there should be none. How did both of them do that to her so easily? It was like her body knew they owned it and would give in at the weakest suggestion, but nothing about his demeanor said he was suggesting anything. Her legs shook like wet noodles as she stood.

TJ lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed across her knuckles. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her, turning her inside-out? He pivoted and led her to the bedroom.

“Take off your clothes, baby, and lie down for awhile. Time to try and rest. You look like you’re about to keel over.”

She stared at him. He must have gone crazy. He’d asked her to get naked and into bed, then tacked on a “try and rest”. She hadn’t thought it possible for men to think of naked and rest in the same sentence. Her eyes watered. She’d gotten this same kind of reaction from them for two days. No fooling around, no insinuating sex, just seeing to her needs.

Chris sat on the edge of the king-sized bed and crazily wondered how they’d gotten the damn thing on the plane. It took up most of the space in the room, leaving just enough to open the door to the tiny lavatory on one side and nothing on the other.

TJ loosened the tie he’d worn for the funeral and pulled it from around his neck with a whoosh. His shoes were next. He toed the shiny loafers off at the heel, his gaze never leaving hers.

“Need help?” He smiled at her. Not the devilish, I-want-to-fuck-you smile she expected but a tender one that said he understood what she was going through and made her feel a hundred pounds lighter. Chris kicked off her own shoes, a pair of heels she rarely wore for a damn good reason—they scrunched her toes to oblivion—and jumped to her feet. Reaching beneath her skirt, she rolled the much-hated pantyhose down her legs and sat again to pull them off completely.

TJ had his belt unbuckled, his pants unbuttoned and unzipped, his shirt untucked, and was in the process of relieving himself of his shirt. It fell to the ground with a soft thud and he crossed his arms in front of his belly. His back arched as he lifted the undershirt up and over his head, tossing it to the floor also.

Chris’s heart thudded. The sight of his ripped abs was absolutely mouth-watering. She understood how he and Jon drew so many women to themselves. They were drool-worthy.

“Don’t make me remind you one more time to strip, baby.”

Shit. Chris shook her head, but nothing would divest her mind of the image before her—a sleek line of dark hair leading from his chest and disappearing into the top of his boxers.

One of TJ’s eyebrows rose. Chris felt her face heat.

She flew off the bed again and fumbled with the button at the side of the skirt. Damn. Her fingers felt like sausages. In the end she simply yanked it down over her hips and cringed at the ripping she heard along the waistband. Why the hell was she so anxious to get out of her clothes?

“Oh good, you had the same idea.” Jon’s voice made her head snap up. A huge smile revealed his straight white teeth. She felt her cheeks heat and wondered if he’d heard her clothes rip in her eagerness to get them off her body.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think she’d do it unless I provided a little encouragement.” TJ stepped over and pulled her against his chest. His lips feathered over hers, his hands held her gently at her hips.

She melted against him, letting him take her weight, and opened her mouth under his. Fling, schming. She’d been deluding herself thinking she wanted this relationship to end.

The idea should have shocked her. It didn’t. She’d been a non-believer in men for so long, yet here she was falling for two of them, and if she were truly honest with herself, she’d have to say she’d been slowly headed this direction for months. Self-protection had held her back.

TJ’s hands wandered under her blouse, carrying the fabric up as they went. “Hands up,” he murmured.

She complied and let him rid her of the shirt, leaving her in only her panties since she hadn’t worn a bra. The rasp of a zipper sounded next to her. She hadn’t even realized Jon had moved, she was so focused on TJ and his kiss and touch. Now Jon turned them so he could stand behind her, his chest along her back. His hands covered her breasts and plucked lightly at her nipples, drawing a sigh from her.

This was right where she wanted to be.

Jon nibbled on her ear as the plane’s engines whined to life. TJ’s fingers trailed down her abdomen, pausing to swirl in her navel. Then his touch was gone and she felt a pat on her butt. “Get into bed, baby.”

Chris hesitated and bit her lip before clearing her throat. “How?”

“How what?”

“How do you want me,” she rasped, feeling heat coil deep in her belly.

TJ chuckled. “In the middle on your side.”

She reached for the waistband of her panties. Jon stopped her. “Leave ’em on.”

“Wha—?”

“You take them off and I’ll want to do something you’re not prepared for right now.”

TJ rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “We’re just sleeping, Chris. No sex. Sleep. You’ve had a hard couple of days and when we make love to you again, we want you whole, not pieces of yourself.”

Tears filled her eyes. This was not how men were supposed to act. They were supposed to take, take, take. Yet TJ and Jon had shown her time and again just how opposite they were to men like her father and brother. She mouthed
thank you
to Jon, took a deep breath and stretched out on the bed. It tilted as TJ climbed on after her, then Jon. They sandwiched her, lending their warmth to her chilled skin and cocooning her in their dual embrace.

She’d never felt more protected or loved. Or less tired. Her exhaustion seemed to have disappeared in their arms and suddenly she wanted answers.

“Why do you do this?”

“What?” Jon’s voice was groggy, indicating she wasn’t the only one who’d been tired.

“Share.”

TJ rubbed his nose in the crease of her shoulder. “It just sort of happened one night when we were with the SEALs. Made us both sit up and see how much we were missing, that we could feed off each other’s excitement and make the woman feel that much better.” His lips traveled across the back of her neck.

“It made finding a woman who enjoyed a ménage that much more special,” Jon added, his fingers wandering over her belly. “Like you,” he whispered. “We’ve been waiting for the one woman who would make us feel whole.” His gaze met hers, making her breath catch. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

TJ’s arm slipped over her hip and his hand settled over her navel, big and strong and firm. And permanent. Chris swallowed as the irrevocable feeling fluttered in her tummy. More than she’d ever wanted something like this in the past, she wanted their offering of permanence now.

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.