Chapter 23
twenty-three
GREER
Greer’s hair was still damp from the shower she had taken as soon as Lachlan had shown up at Ivy’s with the twins. Nathalie’s house felt empty, which it was, but more than normal. And it wasn’t just because Nathalie and Alaric weren’t home. Rubbing the towel into her hair, Greer got dressed and checked her phone.
She had several texts in the new group chat that she’d started with Ivy and Lachlan, telling her to come back when she was done, that they wanted to talk to her. Greer frowned. Was this going to be more of what she’d endured in the last week and a half? More inquiries into her behavior? More dirty looks and snide comments about how she really wasn’t part of their little group?
But why did it even matter so much?
She wasn’t part of their trio, and she’d never intended to be part of it. What she’d been hired to do was to bolster them up so that they could continue to thrive, to be the additional support that they needed. She never wanted to become so integrated into a family that they couldn’t live or function without her.
“Greer?” Lachlan’s voice reached her ears from the hallway.
“I’m in my room.” Greer tossed the towel over the corner of her bed and sat back onto the mattress. She really didn’t want to go to Ivy’s. She didn’t want to get yelled at or put into her place any more than she had been already today. It hurt too damn much.
“Hey there.” Lachlan stood at the doorway and smiled at her. ‘We’re concerned you weren’t going to come back over.”
They knew her too well already for this to really continue, didn’t they? Greer swallowed hard and rolled her shoulders. “I debated on it, I won’t lie to you.”
“Come on.” Lachlan held her hand out. “None of us should be alone right now.”
Greer hesitated but only for a second. Lachlan was always so warm and generous with her kindness. Greer wouldn’t find the type of discouragement and distance that she’d experienced with Nathalie earlier. And it’d be good to see Alaric and really be able to sit down with him so that he would know not everything was out of the ordinary.
They walked hand in hand from Nathalie’s house to Ivy’s, and the burst of noise when Greer entered was exactly what she needed to hear. It sent a comforting warm embrace through her, one that could only be accomplished by normalcy and the utter audacity of children to always be loud and happy. They made their way into the kitchen, where dinner was already waiting. Ivy was just plating everything up and beckoning the kids in.
“Hey there,” Ivy said, her lips turning upward into a smile. She stepped in close, snagged Greer’s hand and immediately moved in for a kiss.
Greer stopped. She shuddered. She pulled back curiously, very confused. That was a familiar touch, and they weren’t that kind of familiar with each other. Sex was one thing, but they hadn’t even talked about their relationship beyond that one night or what it might mean. Ivy just smiled at her again and went to the table to set the plates of food down.
The children clambered onto their seats and immediately started eating. Greer, however, was a bit slow tonight when it came to sliding back into the norm. She’d been so out of it for the last week. In fact, she remained relatively quiet and melancholy until Lachlan and Ivy took the kids to bed. She sat her ass down onto the couch in the living room, the same spot she’d fucked Ivy relentlessly, and sighed heavily.
She really should go back to Nathalie’s and try to get some sleep that night. But she wasn’t quite sure what to do after that. And the house felt so big and empty. Greer wiped her hands against her face and pulled the sleep from the corners.
“Rough week,” Lachlan said as she slid onto the cushion next to Greer.
“Yeah,” Greer said with a laugh. Sometimes she hated that she was always smiling and laughing. Like it was expected of her, and she couldn’t just be sad and scared like everyone else.
Lachlan dropped her hand onto Greer’s thigh and rubbed up and down in a steady motion. “Ivy and I wanted to talk to you, but she’s probably going to be a bit because Alaric is on the struggle bus with sleeping tonight.”
“All right.” Greer tensed. Here it was. This was the scolding she’d been waiting for, the one that would come from them instead of just from Nathalie. “Let me have it.”
“Have it?” Lachlan frowned and tightened her grasp on Greer. “Do you think you’re in trouble?”
“Well, I slept with two out of the three bosses, and the third one isn’t particularly happy about that. She kicked me out of the hospital room so she could talk to Ivy today, so I’m pretty sure that I’m in trouble. Yes.”
“Oh Greer.” Lachlan’s voice softened. “You’re not in trouble at all. We just want to make sure that you’re okay. Especially after this last week. We kind of left you alone with her to take care of her and assumed everything was all right and we shouldn’t have done that.”
Greer sniffled, the tears in her eyes stinging. She didn’t know why she was crying, or why she couldn’t just keep her emotions inside of her like she normally did. Lachlan turned her face, brushing the tears away from her cheeks and pressing gentle kisses to her forehead and nose.
“It’s okay,” Lachlan murmured.
Greer shook her head. “It’s really not.”
“It is, I promise you. Nathalie will be fine, we’ll all be fine, and we’ll all be together.”
Freezing slightly, Greer pulled back and looked Lachlan dead in the eye. “Don’t make promises that you can’t keep, and don’t try to console me with things you might not be sure that I want.”
“You don’t want us?”
“Of course I want you.” Greer frowned. That hadn’t been what she meant. “I love this family, and I didn’t think I liked you very much at the start, but now, I can’t stop thinking about all of you. You’re my world.”
Lachlan’s lips curled upward at that. “You’re a part of our world, too.”
“But Nathalie?—”
“Nathalie is a hard one to get to know. And she takes a long time to build up trust with someone. But she does trust you. I promise she does.”
Greer wasn’t so sure about that. Not with the way that Nathalie had been talking to her lately. Yes, she’d apologized for harassing her after finding out about her and Lachlan, but she’d been sick, and they hadn’t fully been able to resolve the tension. And that tension was what was pushing Greer away right now, she knew it was. But at the same time, she couldn’t stop it from happening.
“Will you do something for me?” Lachlan asked, tangling their fingers together and lifting Greer’s hand to her lips.
“What?”
“Will you stay here tonight? With me and Ivy. And will you let us show you how much you’re a part of our world? I think we haven’t done a very good job of that. But this last week was a stark reminder that we need you.” Lachlan kissed her knuckles again.
Greer bit the inside of her cheek. Why did the ask have to be so soft? It would be so easy to say no and to walk away, to put more distance between them. But she couldn’t. Because she really did want to be here, she really did want to be a part of this family. But that was only going to work if everyone wanted her there.
She wasn’t quite sure what compelled her to say yes, but whatever it was, the word left her lips. She did need that comfort and the guidance that she wasn’t as far out of their little circle as she thought. And if Ivy and Lachlan could provide that, then she’d take it. Maybe that was what the kiss had been about earlier.
“Come on.” Lachlan stood up and pulled Greer through the living room and up the stairs toward Ivy’s bedroom. As soon as the door was shut, Lachlan started to undress. Greer couldn’t take her eyes off of her. She’d gone from the one who was so shy before to being fully confident now. “Ivy told me something the other day.”
“Oh?” Greer asked, dropping her gaze all over Lachlan’s stunning body, and sure enough, she could feel her arousal responding. She could feel the pull toward Lachlan, the desire to kiss and touch building up inside her in a way that had been long absent the last week.
“She said that you weren’t someone who would initiate. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that.”
Greer snorted lightly, her lips quirking to the side in a half-smile. “She’s right. I rarely initiate.”
“She said that if I wanted this to happen again, that I’d have to be the one to take the step.” Lachlan shucked her pants and stepped out of them. “So this is my initiating.”
“You’re fucking adorable,” Greer said, now fully unable to swipe the smile from her lips.
“Not hot? Not sexy? Just adorable?”
But Lachlan didn’t look offended by the compliment. Greer stepped closer, sliding her hand down Lachlan’s body from her collarbone, over her bare breast, to her hip, and to her ass. She tugged Lachlan in sharply against her.
“Do you want to be sexy?” Greer asked, deepening her tone so that it sounded a bit more like a command than anything else.
“I want you to fuck me,” Lachlan whispered, and the curse word sounded so odd to Greer’s ears coming from those beautiful and full lips.
“That’s my line,” Ivy said from the doorway. She chuckled as she turned around and made a show of locking the door. “We don’t need any uninvited guests this time, do we?”
“No, definitely not,” Lachlan responded. A flush ran through her body, the red spilling from her cheeks, down her neck and over her breasts. Lachlan’s gaze never left Ivy’s as Ivy’s didn’t leave Lachlan’s body.
Was this the first time they had…? Greer was pretty damn sure of it. And they had planned this. There was no doubt of that. They’d talked about what had happened with Lachlan, what Greer had suggested, and they’d decided it was something they wanted and they arranged for this to happen.
“Put your fingers in her, Greer. I want to see you make her come.” Ivy flicked her gaze to Greer and nodded. “Then it’s your turn.”
Greer kept her mouth shut. She kind of liked this commanding side to Ivy. It was still soft in her own way, still a bit playful in how she said it, but it was sexy as hell, and that was exactly what Greer needed right now. Some sort of distraction from everything that was happening. Putting her knee between Lachlan’s legs, Greer spread her. She held Lachlan up, still cupping her ass, but she moved her free hand down between Lachlan’s legs and felt for the warm moisture that she expected to be there.
And sure enough, Lachlan was soaking. Greer moved in swiftly and kissed Lachlan on the lips, sliding two fingers inside her at the same time. Lachlan gasped, and then she moaned. Ivy stood just over Greer’s shoulder, moving a hand down Greer’s back and around her front.
“Don’t make her wait, Greer. She’s been wanting this for a long time now.”
Greer pulsed her fingers against Lachlan, sliding her thumb against her clit in a circle. Lachlan grasped onto her, digging her fingers into Greer’s shoulders as they continued to stand upright. This wasn’t going to last very long if they had to keep this up. Ivy pulled at Greer’s belt, sliding it from the loops slowly. Greer glanced down at Ivy’s hands and then over her shoulder to Ivy’s face.
“We’ll use this another time. I still want your hands on me tonight though.”
Oh fuck. Greer could come just from those gentle commands if she thought about them long enough. She tried to split her concentration from Lachlan to Ivy, who was now sliding a hand down the front of Greer’s pants and under her underwear as she stood to Greer’s side.
“Lachlan?” Ivy asked. “Tell me what she’s doing to you.”
“Two fingers.” Lachlan gasped as Greer flicked her fingers rapidly in response. This could get fun. If Ivy was going to make Lachlan say everything, then Greer could change it up repeatedly and keep Lachlan on her toes—figuratively and literally, since she was pushing up on them now, trying to get closer.
Without another word, Ivy slid two fingers inside Greer, mimicking Lachlan’s words.
“Fuuuuck,” Greer dragged out the word. She dropped her forehead to Lachlan’s shoulder and took deep, steadying breaths. She should have anticipated that. She should have figured out that was exactly where Ivy was going with this. Ivy was playful, and she’d want to play as much in the bedroom during sex as she did outside of this room.
“Fuck, indeed,” Ivy said, flicking her tongue against the edge of Greer’s ear. “What’s she doing now, Lachlan?”
“Clit, circles.” Lachlan strained to speak.
Was she that close already? Greer kept the pacing as best as she could when Ivy added her thumb into the mix. Instead of Ivy mimicking the pattern on Greer, Greer followed Ivy’s lead and changed up what she was doing on Lachlan. She held onto Lachlan tightly, already feeling her head spin from the amount of pleasure coursing through her.
“Close,” Lachlan murmured. “So close.”
“Don’t stop,” Ivy ordered gently into Greer’s ear. “I want to see what she looks like when she comes.”
Greer closed her eyes, remembering the first time that Lachlan had come against her mouth, the way she had writhed under her, the way Ivy had that first time as well. She focused everything she had on Lachlan, on keeping the touch firm and steady. And when she heard that hitch in Lachlan’s breath, felt the bearing down of Lachlan’s body against her hand, Greer knew she was coming. It took a minute for her to feel Lachlan pulsing against her fingers, for her head to come back around, and for her to realize that she had also climaxed against Ivy’s deft fingers.
They all stepped back slightly, breathing heavily, and stared at each other in the quiet. They were really doing this. Greer almost couldn’t believe it. She should have, because she was standing right here, but the fact that she’d never believed this would actually happen and now it was? Turning fully, Greer let go of Lachlan and cupped Ivy’s cheek, pulling her firmly against Greer’s mouth in a heated kiss.
She needed more. So much more. They all did. Fervently, pushed Ivy against the mattress as she pulled frantically at her clothes to get them off. She wanted Ivy to be as naked as Lachlan. She wanted Ivy to be under Lachlan, to watch as they pleasured each other.
As soon as Ivy was naked, Greer stepped back and surveyed both of them. “Go down on her, Lachlan.”
“W-what?” Lachlan stammered.
“Go down on her. I want to watch you two.” Ivy’s lips parted slightly in surprise, but then that devilish look came right back.
Ivy sat on the edge of the bed and pulled herself closer to the center of it. She parted her legs and then played her fingers through her dark curls and folds, all the while staring at Lachlan. “Come on, sweet stuff, I need you in me.”
Lachlan’s jaw dropped. “But we haven’t… we haven’t even kissed.”
“Then you better get on that,” Greer said as she stood behind Lachlan, sliding her hands along Lachlan’s sides and against her belly and up over her breasts. “I can’t wait to watch you two.”
“But Greer…” Lachlan said, groaning when Greer pinched her nipple lightly and then played with her again. “What about you?”
“I’ll be right here the whole time.” Greer breathed in and breathed out. She could see how Lachlan would find this as a separation between them. She’d have to rectify that, make sure that Lachlan understood that she wasn’t just pulling away from them.
Stepping away from Lachlan, Greer went to Ivy’s closet as she undressed, right to where she knew the strap was. As she was going to the bathroom, Greer glanced over as Lachlan finally climbed onto it and bent down over Ivy, their mouths pressed together in a hesitant kiss before it turned hot and hungry.
“Fuck, that’s sexy,” Greer mumbled, a smile lifting the corners of her lips. She was already wanting more of what they’d just started. She wasn’t sure how she was ever going to want sex again after this, because this was so damn good.
She cleaned the dildo and immediately put the strap on, tightening it so that it fit perfectly against her. Ivy cried out, her voice echoing through the room as she arched her back. Greer knelt on the mattress behind Lachlan and started to touch her ass, play with her breasts.
“I see she’s a good student,” Greer said, looking directly at Ivy.
“So good,” Ivy said, her eyes fluttering shut. “Fuck her already.”
“I…” Greer stared down at the toy between her legs and then looked over at Lachlan. “I’m not sure she can handle one this big, and you don’t have a smaller one.”
“She can handle it.” Ivy raised a commanding eyebrow. “I promise you.”
Greer bit her lip, debating on what to do. Lachlan moved away from Ivy’s pussy and looked directly at Greer. “You did say the second time.”
“Fuck that,” Greer said with a chuckle. “Are you sure? It’s rather big.”
“Do it.” Lachlan nodded. “I want to know what it feels like to have you in me like this.”
“God, you two are so sexy,” Ivy murmured, lifting her hips back up to meet Lachlan’s face. “Now suck me and fuck her.” Ivy pointed at each of them. “I’m sick of arguing.”
“Didn’t really see this as an argument, but all right.” Greer pressed her fingers against Lachlan, gathering moisture and teasing her even more. She wanted Lachlan to be fully ready for what this was going to feel like. Because it would be different from anything she’d experienced before.
Greer slid up closer to Lachlan’s ass, and she held the dildo in her hand as she guided it inside. She moved slowly, really not wanting to hurt Lachlan at all. Lachlan groaned, and she could tell that Lachlan had stopped sucking Ivy because she stilled as Greer continued the gentle push and pull method to get the toy all the way inside her.
Ivy didn’t push for more either. She trailed her fingers through Lachlan’s hair in a soothing touch, and she waited patiently for Greer to be all the way inside her and for Lachlan to be able to come back to herself. As soon as she was there, Greer paused.
“You okay?” she asked Lachlan.
“Fantastic,” Lachlan responded, and with one deep breath, she went right back to pleasuring Ivy.
“Yes!” Ivy cried out.
Greer shook her head, bit her lip, and started a steady thrusting motion. Lachlan grunted steadily each time Greer pushed into her, but when Greer moved her hand around Lachlan’s hip and started to flick her clit with two fingers, that was when the going got really rough and fun. Lachlan was struggling to keep up, but Ivy was rutting her hips against Lachlan’s face as she climaxed, crying out loudly and grasping onto the pillow behind her head.
Lachlan was next, falling into the mattress as Greer continued to thrust against her and tease her to yet another completion. Greer calmed her breathing and slowed her heart rate before she made the one request that she really wanted to see.
“Lachlan, sit on Ivy’s face. She’s better with her mouth than I am.”
Ivy chuckled. “Lachlan would be the one to be able to determine that, not me or you.”
Greer smiled. Maybe Nathalie could too, if she’d ever allow them into her heart a little more than she already had. Or perhaps she’d just let Lachlan and Ivy in and leave Greer out in the cold. Still, that’d be better for Nathalie in the long run.
“I don’t want to crush you,” Lachlan said, straddling Ivy’s chest instead of her head.
Ivy narrowed her gaze and ran her hands up and down Lachlan’s thighs. “I’m a whole adult human being, Lachlan. You know better than I do how much it would take to actually crush me. I’ll be fine. Better than fine, actually. I’m going to love this.”
Ivy tapped Lachlan’s legs to encourage her to move up. And Greer sat on her butt, stretching her knees out and watching as Lachlan positioned herself exactly where Ivy wanted her. She didn’t sit down fully, but Greer was pretty sure that would change as soon as Ivy got her mouth on her. Greer reached between her legs and touched herself, flicking her clit in a tease as she watched with rapt attention as Ivy licked and sucked Lachlan like her life depended on it. There was nothing that woman did half-assed, was there?
Teased enough, Greer got back up on her knees and moved in between Ivy’s legs. This was what she’d wanted. She pressed the dildo against Ivy and slid in easily this time. She pushed her thighs underneath Ivy’s legs and raised her hips up, changing the angle entirely.
But Ivy didn’t falter like Lachlan had. Instead, she ramped up her game. She curled her arms around Lachlan’s thighs and pulled her down closer. Greer smiled at that. They were so good together. Very damn well near perfect together. They understood what each of them needed, but they also weren’t afraid to push for more. Greer thrust into Ivy hard and quick. She wasn’t going to leave anything behind, and she knew that Ivy could handle it.
She pressed her hand to Ivy’s clit, flicking the edge of her thumb back and forth along it. Ivy groaned against Lachlan’s pussy, sending shoots of pleasure through Greer. From this angle, the toy was hitting her perfectly. She continued to thrust, to push, to give as much pleasure as she could possibly give from this angle.
Lachlan cried out, followed shortly by Ivy. But Greer continued to thrust. She dragged out Ivy’s orgasm as she slid into her own, this one tingling all over her body and pulling her nipples tight and begging for someone to just touch her, kiss her, lick her. Greer bit her lip and closed her eyes as she tried to calm down her breathing and get her heart rate under control.
Ivy and Lachlan were against her, soothing hands against her body, touching her breasts. They worked in tandem, hands under the straps as they felt her and touched her and then eased her down onto the bed. Ivy pulled the strap away, and Greer parted her legs on instinct and stretched her legs out, pointing her toes.
Happily sated, Greer was surprised when there was a mouth against her clit. She popped her eyes open to find Lachlan there, licking and teasing and staring directly at her.
“What are you… doing?” Greer groaned the last word.
“We’re taking care of you,” Ivy answered, sliding in next to Lachlan. When Lachlan pulled back, Ivy moved in, picking up right where Lachlan had left off.
“Oh God.” Greer grunted. She reached up and found the footboard, sliding her fingers against it until she could push into it to keep herself steady. They took turn after turn on her, fingers and mouths. Greer desperately wanted to watch them, but each time they switched she’d have to work herself up again, the breaks frustrating her more than anything.
As if on cue, they both stayed. Their tongues hit Greer’s clit simultaneously. Greer’s eyes flicked open, and she pushed up onto her elbows to watch exactly what was happening. They were moving without even talking. They were tonguing each other while also tonguing her, and Greer couldn’t actually describe what this was, but fuck, it felt amazing. She stared open-mouthed as they licked her, as fingers pushed into her, as she careered over the edge, and they held her knees down so they could lick up every last drop of her.
Greer’s head was spinning. She reached down to either side of her and tried to get them to come up to her instead of continuing to taste her. Finally Ivy and Lachlan lay down along her sides, each one curling a leg over hers in a very protective stance. They brushed hands over Greer’s breasts and down her body.
“How do you feel?” Ivy asked.
Greer snorted. She couldn’t even formulate words for that. She felt used. She felt like she was floating. She felt like she could go another ten rounds.
“That good, huh?” Ivy chuckled.
Greer looked at each of them just in time to see them lean over her body to kiss, and it was such a gentle and loving kiss, unlike anything she’d seen between them that night so far. This was what they’d both wanted. The love between them manifested in reality. And this was what Greer would do for them.