Adam blew out his breath in one long sigh. “Christ. Nothing happened between me and Lacey tonight, Ethan. I wouldn’t do that to Holly.”
“I know,” Ethan said quietly. “But she doesn’t know that. Not yet. We haven’t
earned
her trust. She’s not going to offer that lightly after what she’s gone through.”
“And in the meantime, I’m locked out of my fucking bedroom.”
Ethan chuckled. “I guess you get the couch. I wonder if we’ll have a steady rotation when one of us pisses her off.”
Adam turned to leave. “Good night. Sorry I woke you.”
He eased the door shut behind him and stared down the hall at his locked door. It was nothing a screwdriver wouldn’t fix. Maybe it was time he and Holly had a little time alone.
A few minutes later, he quietly slipped into his bedroom. Holly had left the lamp by the bed on and the soft glow poured over the bed. He set the screwdriver down on the dresser and shrugged out of his clothing.
He walked to the bed and looked down at Holly’s curled-up body. Only her face peeked out from underneath the covers. A face that was red and blotchy. His chest tightened at the evidence of her tears.
He gently turned back the covers and climbed in beside her. He pulled her tightly into his arms, liking the way her soft curves melted into his hard body.
She stirred and opened bleary eyes. They flared in surprise when she saw him.
“How did you get in here?”
“It was easy. Why did you lock me out?”
She looked away. He trailed a finger over a lock of her hair that rested on her neck.
“I just needed some time alone,” she said softly.
“That’s understandable, but you don’t have to lock the door to get your point across.”
She looked back at him again, her eyes troubled, uncertainty lurking in their depths.
He sighed. Ethan was right. He should have just explained his involvement with Lacey from the get-go. Then maybe he’d be sliding his dick into Holly’s pussy instead of lying here with a raging hard-on about to become embroiled in sensitive talk.
He checked his impatience and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Listen to me, baby. There is nothing going on between me and Lacey. I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression.”
Holly shifted and pulled the sheets up higher around her. The gesture looked protective in nature but instead of making her look stronger, it only made her seem more vulnerable.
“I don’t understand.”
Her voice came out soft and breathy, the kind that would make a man instantly hard. If he wasn’t already.
“What don’t you understand, baby?”
She looked away again. “Why didn’t you choose her?”
Adam frowned. That wasn’t what he expected her to say.
“She’s everything I’m not,” Holly continued. “She’s strong, tall, pretty. I bet she doesn’t need anyone.”
Adam leaned back against the pillows, taking Holly with him. He cradled her against his chest, and she laid her cheek on his shoulder. He stroked his hand up and down her arm.
“I won’t lie to you. There was a time when I was attracted to Lacey. I even went as far as to bring her home, introduce her to Ryan and Ethan. But I knew immediately that she wasn’t the one. I didn’t feel a connection with her. Not like I did with you, and it was obvious the others didn’t either. Ryan outright despised her on sight. I still haven’t figured out why. Ethan, well, he was indifferent. I stopped seeing her directly after that.”
Holly stilled against him. He could feel another question coming. One that apparently was difficult for her if her body language was any indication.
“Ryan said…he said you were a sucker for a woman in distress.”
The light bulb went on immediately. Adam sat up, dragging Holly up with him. He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look him directly in the eye.
“Baby, I’ll always protect you, but that isn’t why you’re here. Ryan’s a dumbass. He talks to hear his head rattle, I swear. If you want an explanation as to why you and not her, well I don’t know. I can only tell you what I feel here.”
He clenched his other hand into a fist and thumped his chest. “It’s you, baby. And maybe in time you’ll believe that.”
Her eyes glittered suspiciously in the lamplight. “I want it to be me.”
“But?” There was clearly a but in her statement. Doubt clouded her voice, and it made him uneasy.
“I’m scared of making the wrong decision. Again.”
“Does it feel wrong?”
She didn’t answer right away.
“Holly?”
“No, it doesn’t feel wrong. That’s what scares me.”
Adam let out a small sigh of relief. He could fight uncertainty. He couldn’t fight a made-up mind. Ethan’s words echoed in his mind. Was he right? Did Adam already love her? It was hard to separate his satisfaction with finding the woman who would complete their family and the idea of love.
He knew one thing. He wasn’t letting her go. If that meant he loved her, then maybe Ethan was right. And he’d try his best to make her love them as well.
He slid his hand down her side and over her hip. “I want to make love to you,” he murmured. “I’ve thought of little else all night.”
She stared up at him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He saw hesitation in her expression, but he also saw desire. Was she still afraid of him?
He lowered his head to hers, meeting her lips with his. She tasted sweet. Just like she looked. He wanted to feel those lips around his cock, her wet mouth sucking him deep. He was ready to explode just thinking about it.
“Take your clothes off,” he said hoarsely. “I want to watch you.”
She rose up on her elbow then slowly scooted off the bed. She stood for a moment, staring at him, her bottom lip still tucked between her teeth. Then her fingers began to fumble with her pants.
He propped himself up on his elbow and watched as the smooth skin of her legs came into view. His fingers itched to touch her.
She began unbuttoning her shirt, her hands working down as the shirt loosened around her breasts. When she parted the lapels, he sucked in his breath. Damn she was beautiful. She had perfect breasts. They bobbed and swayed as she shrugged completely out of her shirt and let it fall to the floor.
He crooked his finger at her. “Come here.”
She crawled back onto the bed, her eyes bright with desire. Her lips wavered inches from his and then she kissed him. He ran his hand over her shoulder then down her side and underneath her breast. He cupped it in his hand, loving the feel, how it filled his palm.
His dick was hard as a rock, and it was becoming more painfully engorged by the minute. There was no part of his body that didn’t scream out for her.
He continued to taste her, loving the raspy sounds of her breath as it skittered across his lips. But he wanted those lips around his cock.
Cupping his hand around the back of her neck, he slowly but firmly eased her down toward the juncture of his thighs. With his other hand, he circled his fingers around the base of his dick and guided it toward her waiting mouth.
He groaned as her wet tongue slid down the length of his cock.
“Oh, baby, you feel so damn good.”
Her hair fell forward across his thighs. He moved his hand from his cock and tangled it in her hair, holding her in place as his hips jerked forward.
Slow and easy, she took him deeper, her tongue swirling around the head. He butted against the back of her throat then withdrew so she could catch her breath. She was magnificent.
She made small sucking noises as she coaxed him deeper. Her tongue rasped erotically over the vein on the underside of his dick. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw as tight as he could.
He stroked his hand down her back and over the globes of her ass. He slid his finger into her wetness, and she flinched in reaction. He smiled as she took him deeper. They were driving each other crazy.
He burrowed his fingers deeper, seeking her swollen clit. He began to rotate his finger, parting the folds, baring the flesh for his touch.
He withdrew and ran his fingers up again, delving into the cleft of her ass. She tightened in reflex as he ran a finger around the puckered opening to her ass. God, she was tight.
He took his hand away and tangled it in her hair, pulling her away from his cock. Just the thought of plunging into her ass nearly made him come right then and there.
“Lay back,” he commanded, rotating over her body.
She fell back, her mouth swollen, her eyes glazed with heady desire. Her legs fell open and he crawled between them, cupping her ass in his hands, spreading her.
In one hard thrust, he was inside her. She cried out, he cried out. Her hands clawed at his shoulders, pulling him closer. He smiled and bent down to capture her mouth with his.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered against her lips.
“I do.”
He slowly withdrew. “Turn over.”
When she complied, he stood up and walked across the room to the bathroom. He rummaged in the drawer for a tube of K-Y then walked back into the bedroom.
He smoothed a hand over her buttocks. “Scoot back,” he murmured.
He positioned her at the edge of the bed on all fours, her ass to him. He squeezed some of the K-Y onto his fingers then gently slid his hand between her ass cheeks. She moaned softly when he eased one finger into the tight opening.
Holly’s eyes flew open when his finger breached her ass. A multitude of sensations washed over her. A little fear, a lot of longing, a little pain, and a whole lot of pleasure.
She braced herself on one hand and smoothed the other over her stomach and to her pelvis below. Her fingers found her clit, and she began moving it in a circular motion. Pleasure rocketed through her abdomen.
His fingers left her for a moment and then she felt the head of his penis press against her sphincter. Slowly, ever so slowly, he pushed forward, allowing her to adjust to the sensation.
Her fingers stroked harder as she sought to offset the burning. She moaned deep in her throat. Then with a soft release, she felt him gain entrance.
She heard him say something unintelligible, and then he sank all the way into her. She’d never felt such an exquisite fullness. Ryan’s words filtered back to her.
Adam in your ass, me in your pussy
. God, what would it feel like to have them both so deep within her?
Adam began to thrust in and out. She was at a complete loss as to how to describe the overwhelming pleasure. It was part pain, part delicious ecstasy, and they combined to send her spiraling into the most excruciatingly, wondrous agony she’d ever endured.
His hips pressed into her buttocks, and she knew he was as deep as he could possibly go, and yet she wanted more. She pressed back against him, rocking her hips in time with his thrusts.
Her orgasm blossomed and grew until it consumed her. She needed it. She was going to fly apart at the seams.
Behind her, Adam cried out, and then she felt the flood of his release. She shattered. She buried her face in the covers to keep from screaming. Adam gripped her hips tightly, holding her against him as he finished.
Her entire body quaked, shivered, convulsed. She fell limply to the bed as he withdrew. She closed her eyes, her breath coming in torturous gasps. Then she felt a warm cloth wiping over her tender flesh.
“Are you all right?” Adam asked huskily.
She nodded, unable to form a coherent response.
The bed dipped and then Adam gathered her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and held her tightly against his chest. His heart beat wildly against her cheek.
“You are the most amazing woman,” he whispered. “No one has ever made me feel like this.”
Nothing he could have said would have evaporated her fears as quickly as that simple statement. Suddenly, Lacey was gone from her mind and her worries. She wrapped her arms around Adam’s waist and closed her eyes. For the first time, she really believed that she might just hold the hearts of three men, and that they held hers.
Chapter Fourteen
Sinful, delicious sensations woke Holly up. She opened her eyes to Adam’s broad chest. She was flung across him, and she smiled to think how possessive she must look. A woman staking her claim.
“Aah, she’s awake.”
She turned her head to see Ethan beside her. His hands stroked over her back, down over her behind and back up again.
And what a way to wake up.
A look to the end of the bed revealed Ryan. A bare-chested, incredibly sexy Ryan.
She glanced up to see Adam staring down at her, lust emblazoned in his eyes.
He grinned. A predatory, all-male grin. One that said he had his woman right where he wanted her. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
“I just bet you were.”
Adam bent his head to kiss her. She felt Ethan’s lips press against the small of her back, and she shivered as goose bumps traveled up her spine.
Then Adam scooted out from underneath her and stood up beside the bed. He held out a hand to help her up. When she’d stood, Ryan peeled off his shorts, crawled onto the bed and laid crossways over the sheets, letting his legs dangle off the side, his feet planted on the floor.