Chapter 42 Nora
NORA
Poppy pulls up outside my house. “Thanks so much for coming to the spa with me. I’ve had a really great time.”
“Thanks for inviting me. You want to come in?”
“Dom’s expecting me. Besides,” she points to my bay window, “looks like someone’s anxious to see you.”
I follow her gaze and smile. Evan paces the living room, his hand tugging his messy hair. A small laugh slips out. “I better go put them out of their misery.”
“Yeah. Go live your best life.” She waves me out of the car and shakes her head with a smile as she drives away.
Every step I take towards the house is light, as if I’m walking on air, the smell of the spa still lingering in my hair and on my skin.
I step into the house. It’s quiet apart from voices in the living room.
“Just sit down. You’re gonna wear the carpet out,” Nate says.
“How can you stay calm?”
“I’m not calm. I just don’t want to wear a path in the floor.”
I smile at their exchange. They’ve probably been waiting for me to come home because they’re both in need of a release. I push the living room door open. “Hi, I’m here.”
They both still. The room goes quiet, like the calm before a storm.
Nate clears his throat from the sofa and steeples his fingers together. “How was it?”
I drop my bag on the floor. “Soooo good. The hotel was stunning.”
Evan’s by the window, cracking his fingers.
I glance between them. “Everything all right with you two?”
“Yeah, all good.” Evan shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels.
“Right,” I say, forcing a smile. “Either one of you is about to tell me we’ve run out of milk, or something’s going on.”
Neither of them speaks; they just stare at me.
Something’s off. “What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“Dimples,” Nate says. “Sit down?”
My pulse spikes. I sit on the sofa next to Nate and place my hand over my chest. “What’s happened? Just tell me.” It can’t be any worse than the things I’m imagining. Nate’s parents, Evan’s mum, someone else we love or care about. This is more than just confessing to eating the last lemon slice.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Ev says, as if sensing my anxiety.
Nate takes a breath. Then another. “This is hard to say.” His voice is strained. “And I need you to hear this knowing I love you. Nothing I’m about to say changes that.”
I nod, even though every instinct in me is screaming to brace for impact. He doesn’t want to do this anymore. He wants to stop trying for a baby. “All right,” I whisper.
He squeezes my hand. “I… last night.” He closes his eyes, then opens them again. “I shared a bed with Evan.”
“Yeah, I know, you told me—” My mouth parts with a gasp, my eyes widen as I take in Evan’s flushed cheeks, and Nate’s bowed head.
“Oh.” My hands fly to my mouth. “Oh.”
The living room narrows. My heart races and my head dizzies, but I’m not mad or jealous or any of the feelings I should feel. “What happened exactly?” I need to know how far this goes.
Evan sits, wiping his palms against his jeans.
Nate glances at him, then back at me. “We kissed.”
They’re both pale. My mind races through all our memories. I should have seen this coming. The times we’ve been intimate, stolen glances between them, hidden desire and a bond that they’ve had since they were young.
“So is that it, or is there more you want to tell me?”
Nate leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and dipping his head in his hands.
Ev pushes his glasses up and says, “It was a little more than a kiss.”
Nate lifts his head. “It’s more than that, Nora.” He takes my hand in his. “I have feelings for Evan.”
My breath stutters.
Nate’s eyes are wide open, every bit of emotion laid bare.
I have no idea what to do with this information or where it leaves me. I push up from the sofa and pace the living room.
“Say something, Nora. Please,” Nate begs.
I stop in the middle of the room, my fists tightening around my cardigan. “I’ve spent my whole life being the person people leave. So if I’m quiet right now, it’s not because I don’t care. It’s because I care too much.”
Nate stands, grips my arms at my side. “We’re not leaving you. I said I have feelings for him, not that I love you any less.”
I blink, his words sinking in. This isn’t about not wanting me. It’s about wanting more.
Evan rises from the chair, his head still bowed. “I have feelings for Nate.” His fingers curl around my chin, gently turning my face to him. “But I also have feelings for you.”
A sob escapes, warm with relief. “You don’t want to take my place.”
“Nora, I could never take your place.” His lips press to mine tentatively.
I kiss Ev back, needing the security from both of them. Tears drip onto my cheeks, and I wipe them away with a smile. “You still want me?” I ask Nate.
Nate kisses me, taking over where Evan left off. “Of course I want you. You’re my wife. I fucking love you.”
My hands tremble as I hold Nate’s face in my palm and stroke Evan’s cheek with my other hand. “I’m scared, but I’m also tired of pretending I don’t feel it as well.”
Ev peers into my eyes, his own like glassy pools. “You want me too?”
A smile bursts through my tears. “I didn’t think I was allowed to ask for more.” I wrap my arms around him and then Nate, both of them peppering kisses on my face.
My breathing stutters. “I don’t know how we do this, but I want to try.”
Nate rests his forehead against mine like a silent thank you and pulls Evan and me closer. The future no longer feels like something I have to survive, but something that we’re building together.
I turn and kiss Nate, sloppy and needy, like we both need the reassurance, then I turn to Ev and kiss him the same way, pouring everything I can’t say into it.
I find Nate’s mouth again, inches away, chasing the warmth of his lips until all three of us are a tangle of tongues.
Their hands move over my body, and I lose track of whose hands are where, caught in the dizzying pull of their kisses.
I thought love meant choosing one person and losing another. But here, between them, is where I belong. Maybe my heart knew that long before my mind was ready to admit it.
I break the kiss and take a few steps to close the curtains. Both men behold me, still high from our kiss.
“I need you. Both of you.” My hands tremble from the weight of the moment.
This is the first time I’ve ever reached for what I want instead of waiting to be chosen.
I drop to my knees between them and unbuckle Nate’s belt, dragging his trousers down his meaty thighs.
Then do the same to Ev, tugging his jeans and boxers down his muscly thighs, his veiny thick cock springing free.
Nate pulls his erection from his boxers and drags his hand up and down his length, his other hand fisting my hair. “Suck him off.” He wraps an arm around Ev, pulling him close, and holds my hair, keeping my head still while Ev slides his length onto my tongue.
I lick the slit, tasting him, then wrap my mouth around him with a moan, my clit tingling with having both men and images of all the dirty things we can do together running through my head.
I look up through my lashes as Nate undoes Ev’s buttons on his shirt.
Watching him undress him has me moaning again.
My chest loosens. I should be jealous, but all I feel is relief that they want more too, and I’m no longer guilty or greedy for wanting this.
Ev’s eyes roll back as he rocks his hips into me. “Nora. Your mouth is…” He sucks in air between his teeth. “Holy shit, doodles.”
Nate tugs my hair, pulling me off Ev, and then, before I can catch a breath, he’s in my mouth, thrusting into me, his saltiness dripping on my tongue. His other hand grips the back of Ev’s neck. “Look at our girl. On her knees for us.”
Our girl. The words shouldn’t comfort me as much as they do. It’s protection more than possession. Shared with love rather than owned.
Ev wraps his hand around his shaft, his other hand behind Nate. Having them so close has my pussy tingling. I need them both. One isn’t enough anymore, not now I’ve had a taste of two men worshipping me.
Saliva drips down my chin, and Nate’s hand in my hair loosens enough for me to move from him to Ev and take him into my mouth, slurping and licking and humming around him. I’m not thinking about technique or how I look. Only how right it feels to be doing this together.
“Open wider, baby.” Nate pushes against my mouth, encouraging me to take them both, his thumb caressing my cheek.
My jaw aches, but I stretch as wide as I can, taking both of them as deep as I can, my hands cupping both their balls. My eyelashes flutter as I watch my men kiss, my walls clenching, pussy aching and my clit tingling at the sight of them enjoying each other.
Ev grips Nate’s biceps, cursing under his breath.
His other hand holding himself at the base.
His body tense as if trying not to come.
“Fuck. I…” He pulls out and drops to his knees.
“I can’t. Too good.” He kisses my neck and I pop Nate from my mouth so I can kiss Ev, our tongues licking each other.
“I can taste him on your tongue.” Ev kisses me again as if desperate for more of Nate’s arousal.
I massage Nate’s balls in my hand. “You want to taste him?”
Ev’s inches from my mouth and Nate’s leaking slit. He sticks out his tongue and runs it along Nate’s crease, lapping up the pearl of cum at his tip.
Nate shudders. “Fuck, Ev.” Nate threads his fingers through Ev's hair.
I bite my bottom lip. “That’s so hot.”
“I think you sucking my cock is turning our girl on, Ev.” Nate rocks into Ev’s mouth, his eyelids flickering, groans of pleasure vibrating through his lips. “Put your fingers in her and tell me how wet she is.”
Ev tugs at the elastic of my leggings, his mouth still wrapped around Nate, and he slips his fingers into my knickers, burrowing between my touching thighs as I kneel on the carpet.
I lift my top over my head and tug my leggings and knickers down my thighs, exposing myself to them. “I’m on my period.”