Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“SURRENDER” BY NATALIE TAYLOR
BLOSSOM
The world around me filters in slowly, and that’s when I realise I’m in the middle of the hallway, crying my eyes out like a watering pot.
“Sorry. I'm sorry, I don't know why I—” I pull back, out of the warmth of their embrace, and wipe my face, wondering briefly if my make up held or whether I look like a racoon. I shake my head, smoothing down my silk dress. “Have you guys eaten? Did Justin get enough, Ant? He never eats enough at—”
“Blossom.” Nox's voice. Flat. A warning. My gaze snaps to his, and that fire is back.
“I’m fine, really. I think I just need some water and then bed and—” I start moving, wrapping my scarf more tightly around my shoulders as I walk into the living room, towards the drinks table. “Come on, let's go sit down, you must all be exhausted waiting up.”
This is better. If I keep talking about them, or about the kids, about anything practical really, then I won’t break down again. That is not what they signed up for.
The lamp is on low in the sitting room, making everything glow a dull gold, and someone has left my favourite blanket on the sofa, a muffin in a clear box on the coffee table. Tina. She’d know I’d need something comforting when I got home.
The domesticity of the scene cracks something inside my chest, but I don’t let it stop me moving, going over to the drinks and pouring a water I really don’t want.
“Sally was asking about the school trip form, I keep forgetting to sign it, I should do that tonight actually—”
“Blossom.” Ant this time. Gentle but firm. My hands keep pouring that damn water.
“—and I think Noah's been having some trouble sleeping again, I heard him last night, maybe we could—”
“What do you want, Blossom?”
Nox. Quiet. Not a snap exactly — more like the end of his patience. I lower the bottle of water, then turn, and he's watching me with those blazing green eyes, jaw tight, arms crossed.
I open my mouth. Close it. “What do you—”
“Don’t.” His voice drops and a shiver runs down my spine. “Don't ask me what I mean. Don't redirect. Don't ask about the kids or the forms or Noah's sleeping. What. Do. You. Want.”
The silence that follows is enormous.
I’m certain he and the other must be able to hear my heart pounding, it’s blocking out all the other sounds of the house at night.
My answer comes from somewhere I didn't know I was holding it, like a thread that Nox pulls and the whole tapestry of me unravels.
“I want you to stay forever.” Barely above a whisper, the rhythmic pounding in my ears loud and unrelenting. “I want you to stay and never leave me and I want—” My voice fractures. “I want to stop being so frightened that one day I'll wake up and you'll all be gone and I—”
I stop. Hear what I just said. Heat floods my face, my eyes widening as I look down at the ground.
“I’m sorry, ignore that, I don't—that's not fair of me, you have your own lives and I can't ask you to—”
A hand closes around my wrist. Dark mahogany. Scarred in places. Steele.
I didn't hear him move but he's there, and his grip is gentle but absolute, stopping my retreat. Not pulling me toward him. Just stopping me from going anywhere.
I look up at him, my mouth dry, my pulse thrashing.
He's watching me with that still, dark gaze of his. Something moving behind his eyes.
“Do you want us, Blossom?”
My breath catches. “Steele—”
“Not the kids. Not what's fair. Not what we need.” His thumb moves, just slightly, against the inside of my wrist and my pulse skitters. “Do you want us?”
“You have an extra shift in the morning. You need to—”
“That makes no difference.” He steps closer. The distance between us becomes something I can feel against my skin, warming me. Grounding me. “Do you want us, Blossom?”
My whole body is trembling. The silk of the dress feels suddenly too much, the makeup, the heels, all of it — armour I don’t want anymore.
“Yes.”
Ant comes to stand next to Steele, his blue eyes dark, his voice rough at the edges like he’s been holding back this entire time. Like he’s a dam ready to burst.
“Then show us.”
My breath catches, tingles racing along my nerves. He says it so simply. No performance, no demand or force. Just an open door, that I can choose to walk through.
“Come and take what you want, Bloom. Show us that we belong to you. That you belong to us.”
The word belong lands somewhere low and certain and deep in my chest.
Steele releases my wrist, both men stepping back until they’re in line with Nox. Waiting. Watching.
With an exhale I let the scarf drop to the floor, a whisper of silk along my skin, goosebumps following in its wake even though it’s warm in here.
With shaking hands I reach up, finding the zipper at the back of my dress and gliding it down.
The sound is very loud in the quiet room, the noise almost too much.
The golden silk falls to the floor, pooling around my red-bottomed heels. I stand there, in just ivory silk knickers and heels, unmoving, letting them look.
All three inhale sharply, Nox biting off a curse as his gaze burns along my skin. Something low and rough sounds from Steele’s chest, not quite a word but it has me flushing at the implied praise.
I may not be able to move my father, but I can affect these three strong men with my mere presence, and there’s something intoxicating about that.
I step from the puddle of silk, leaning down and slipping off one heel, then the other, leaving them behind me. Straightening, I unclasp the heavy diamond necklace, dropping that with a thud, then my earrings until the trappings of the perfect daughter are gone, just me left in their place.
Bare feet on the rug.
No armour left.
“Goddamn, Bloom,” Ant breathes, taking a step forward like he can’t help himself. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
His words have my chest warming, my cheeks flaring bright. His hand reaches out, his fingers skating down the skin of my arm, leaving shivers behind him, before he takes my hand in his and pulls me towards the sofa.
He takes a seat, then turns me to face the others, tugging me down into his lap, my back to his chest. There’s something about me being practically naked while he’s fully clothed, something that leaves me aching and my nipples tight.
Nox approaches us, the silk scarf in his hands. “Give me your wrists, Princess.”
I extend them without hesitation, my arms trembling with a mix of need and anticipation. He wraps the silk around them, each pass a caress that has my breath shortening. When he ties it off, it’s secure, but not painful, a visible sign of my surrender.
“You remember the rules? You tell me if your hands start to go numb or tingle.”
“Yes, Sir.” His shudder is visible, his hand flexing on my bound wrists.
“And your safe word?”
“Plum tree,” I reply, and Ant gives a little huff of laughter, then presses a kiss to my neck.
“Such a good girl for us,” Nox praises, and it’s like I light up inside. “Now you can’t grab, can’t control. Just take what we give you.”
My breath hitches. This is what I need. To let go. To freely surrender.
Ant’s tattooed arms come around me, taking each of my thighs in his hands and hooking my legs over his, widening his thighs so I’m fully open for them.
“Spread your legs for him, baby. Show Nox what’s his.” One of his hands comes up to cup my breast, the other rests possessively on my stomach.
I’m shaking, my breaths already panted as Nox sinks to his knees between my legs. Movement catches my eye, and I look beyond Nox to find Steele, standing there, hands clenched into fists, chest heaving and looking like he’s barely able to restrain himself.
A sharp nip along my inner thigh steals my attention with a gasp, and I look down to find Nox kissing and sucking the skin up first my right, then my left thigh, teasing and taking his time until I’m squirming and desperate.
“Stay still,” Ant commands, his grip on me tightening. “Let him taste you when he’s ready.”
It’s an effort, but I manage to do as he commands and still my twitching body, though my chest rapidly rises and falls with my panted breaths. A ripping sound and tug has me gasping, Nox having torn my silk knickers to get at my core.
“Such a beautiful, pink pussy,” he rasps, pausing to admire it. I flush. “All ours for the taking.”
His head lowers, and then his mouth is on me and all thought flies from my mind, my head falling back on Ant’s shoulder as a broken moan falls from my lips. My bound hands go to the top of Nox’s head, feeling the texture of his cornrows underneath my fingers, my nails scraping along his scalp.
Ant’s hand squeezes and toys with my breast and nipple, his hand on my stomach firm and unyielding, holding me in place. “That’s it. Let him taste you. Let him make you feel so good, Bloom. You are so fucking beautiful like this.”
His words tumble over me as Nox’s tongue does things to me that defy all words.
He’s relentless, tongue, lips and even small nips from his teeth all working together without pause to bring me to the edge with such speed I should be embarrassed.
Then just as I’m about to fall over, he withdraws, backing off with loving kisses to my inner thighs and the crease either side of my pussy.
I whimper, but he waits, only resuming his exquisite torture when I’ve calmed enough to not orgasm. And then he begins again, working me up and up and then stopping.
“Nox,” I beg, tears filling my eyes. “Please, Sir, please.”
“Good girl, Princess,” he praises. “Beg me to let you come all over my face.”
“Please, Sir. Please let me come all over your face,” I answer, utterly helpless and full of so much need I’m not sure how I’m even breathing right now.
He doesn’t answer, just dives back in, with more gusto than before and when I start to approach that precipice, he doesn’t slow down.
No, he pushes me over and doesn’t stop as I’m consumed by pleasure, crying his name, my body tight and loose at the same time.
My body arches in Ant’s lap, my hands buried in Nox’s braids, wrists straining.