13. Katherine
KATHERINE
“I don’t know what you guys are putting in the water,” I say.
“What do you mean?” Gabe asks.
“I can’t get enough of you.” And amazingly, they seem to be suffering the same affliction.
He sits up, crowding closer, and presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Same, Princess, same.”
A happy thrill zings through me, and I smile at him. I’m totally crushing on Gabe Rothburn. Maybe that seems a little backwards considering everything we’ve been through recently, but there’s no other way to describe the utter giddiness bubbling through my veins.
There’s a special glow that shines from the inside out whenever he’s near. Like I’m a blooming flower just waiting for him to notice me. And best of all, he totally notices. He notices and tells me I’m pretty and strokes my petals.
Like right now. He walks his fingers down my spine, and I shiver.
“You up for more?” he murmurs, his middle finger sliding between my cheeks.
More of them? More pleasure? I can’t nod fast enough.
“Words, Wildfire.”
I hadn’t even felt King sneak up behind me.
“Yes, please.”
Gabe glances at Alex. “How about you? Feel like making a Katie Bird sandwich with me?”
“Gabe!” I shove at him with my elbow, scandalized and on fire at the suggestion. He grins at me, then laughs.
Luckily, Alex is laughing too. Or at least, he gives that soft grunt/chuckle that lets me know he finds his best friend funny. I’m so scared we’re going to push him too far, too fast, and freak him out.
But this is the man who is comfortable being uncomfortable.
I shouldn’t discount him. He’s in this with us.
He stepped into that shower, into this room, into this bed.
He’s here, and when I stare down into his handsome face and stroke his stubble-covered cheek, I get the feeling that he’s not going anywhere.
“I’m good,” Alex says, his gaze flicking over my shoulder to King. “As long as she’s got a death grip on my cock, I’m perfectly content.”
I snort a laugh. These guys. Such simple needs.
But they’re not wrong. Pretty much all I need is them touching me at all times.
“Excellent. You guys scoot down the bed a bit,” King instructs, but he vaults off the mattress and disappears into the bathroom.
I lose track of him as Alex slides down, and I have to chase his dick.
Flat on his back now, I rock back and forth, hands braced on his chest. He cups my cheeks between his hands, staring at my lips with unfocused eyes.
I’ll never get enough of moments like this.
Where this strong, capable man is putty in my hands.
I circle my hips twice, feeling impossibly full. The strong wall of muscle lifts beneath my hands as he takes a deep, shuddering breath.
King returns, and Gabe kneels behind me. Something cool slips between my cheeks, and then he’s there, massaging it into my skin, dipping the tip of his finger inside me. I hold still, hold my breath. My nerves are alive, crackling, focusing on the intrusion.
I lose track of time as he prepares me. More lube. One finger. Two.
Below me, Alex is still, but not the kind of still where he’s fighting off an orgasm. Still like he can feel every touch from Gabe.
“That’s it, Wildfire. Let him in.” King pets my back, as if that’s going to make this go faster. Not that he’s rushing. He’s not. This is his pep talk.
“Ready, Princess?” Gabe pulls back, and a dozen heartbeats later, I feel the blunt tip of his cock at my ass. “Breathe out. That’s it. Now push back and let me in.”
Oh god.
He clamps a hand over my hip, holding me steady, but I want to move. I’m just not sure if I want to get away or slam my hips backward. Not that I can go anywhere. I’m fully impaled on Alex’s telephone pole.
“Oh—” I whimper. As if I wasn’t full enough.
Sweat teases the back of my neck and across my forehead.
Gabe reaches around, ghosting a finger over my clit. My muscles relax as if he commanded them to, and he buries himself in my ass. I breathe through it, not caring how noisy I am. They’re right there with me, Alex grunting, Gabe groaning.
“Fuck. She’s so tight. Sorry—I—” Gabe freezes for endless moments. He drops his forehead against my shoulder.
My heartbeat thuds in my ears. I’m so wet, so turned on. It wouldn’t take anything at all to get myself off, especially with his fingers poised at my clit. But I make myself wait. I’m not going to start bumping and grinding when he’s clearly holding on by a thread.
“My turn,” King murmurs.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see him grab the bottle of lube.
The sheets rustle as King gets into position.
“You gonna let me have this ass?” he murmurs, and I can just imagine him giving Gabe’s ass a squeeze.
“Yes,” Gabe murmurs, withdrawing a bit. Then he groans, his head lifting as his hands tighten on me.
Alex watches everything with an intense curiosity. We’re really doing this. All of us together. No boundaries, just bliss.
“Are we crushing you?” I ask Alex. He shakes his head.
I want to kiss him, but I don’t dare move. Gabe needs me exactly like this, sprawled across Alex, thighs wide, taking everything they have to give me.
“That’s it. Relax for me,” King murmurs.
They’re so damn good together. Two adventure-loving souls, eager for whatever comes next, happily saying yes.
Gabe moans.
“Good man. That’s it. It’s gonna feel so good, I promise.”
Oh god. The naughty words ratchet up my need. Gabe presses in closer, his cock as deep as he can go.
Alex curses beneath his breath, and his hands tighten on my thighs.
“You okay?”
He nods and grunts, eyes closing as sensations pummel him. “Tight.”
“No kidding.”
His eyelids snap open, and he takes in my expression with a single glance. “You’re good? If it’s too much, you say stop, and this stops.”
“Agreed. Wildfire, just say the word and we’re out.”
“What about me?” Gabe teases, his voice a thick grump.
“You too. Now hold still and let me in.”
I collapse onto Alex’s chest, officially a Katie Bird—and now Gabe—sandwich. All I can do is hold on tight.
When he’s all the way in, we all take a breath together. I’m plastered between Alex and Gabe, so cozy, spread wide. My hips ache, my knees hurt, my clit is screaming for stimulation, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Because this is the closest I’ve ever felt to anyone.
“Everyone okay?” King asks.
“Mhmm,” is all I can get out.
“So fucking tight,” Alex says.
“That,” Gabe agrees.
“Move with me,” King says, but I swear he purrs the word, and it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard. Like if caramel could morph into a sound and roll off a tongue.
Gabe pulls his hips back, taking some of his weight off of me. Cool air caresses my skin, and I miss feeling him against my skin, pelvis pressed tight to my ass. But I don’t get long to miss him before he’s back.
Alex grunts, feeling every inch of Gabe filling my ass. He and King find a rhythm that lights up my nerve endings and makes my pussy flutter around Alex’s cock.
My stoic protector is all straining muscles, fingers flexing, as he stares up at the ceiling. His breathing is quick and metronome consistent.
Every powerful thrust from the men behind me slides me up Alex’s dick, and I shove back down, taking him deep.
The pressure teases my clit with promises of what could be.
A whimper tears from my lips, and my brain sizzles, so ready for the orgasm to claim me.
To wash away all the almosts and celebrate the oh-fuck-yes.
“You okay, Wildfire?”
“Harder.”
“Gabe,” King says, checking in.
“Fuck me.”
I moan my agreement. That’s exactly what I need. While Alex was right earlier and I did need his tenderness, right now I need hard and fast, the kind of passion that will burn itself into my memory and keep me warm when I’m old and gray.
We don’t have to ask King twice. Their movements increase in speed and vigor, grinding me against Alex. And I’m no longer a passenger along for the ride. I fuck him, chasing the high that will shatter me.
Of course, he’s right there, hands on my hips, helping me stay synced. Back and forth, until I’m a long stream of pleas.
“Yes. Ohmygod, King!”
“That’s it, Wildfire. Take your pleasure. Come for us. Come all over us.”
“Oh fuck,” Gabe whisper-shouts. “Holy shit.”
I shatter, muscles clamping down, like if I can just get tight enough, this will go on forever.
The orgasm crashes over me, through me, stronger than I’ve ever felt because I’m consumed.
Trapped between the three of them, their hands all over me, their lips, their dirty words urging me higher and higher.
Beneath me, behind me, they chase their own release.
I hear their hoarse shouts, feel Alex and Gabe go impossibly harder inside me and then release. Hot jets of cum bathe my insides, and they collapse.
“Such a good fucking girl,” Gabe breathes.
“And all ours,” King agrees.
I’m sure he’s come by now. The energy in the room is far less frantic as we all float back to earth.
“She’s the best fucking girl,” Alex says, and I smile against his chest.
“Yeah. She is,” Gabe agrees.
I do that inner glow thing again, basking in the praise. We lay there for a moment longer, and then King and Gabe withdraw. I hear water running in the bathroom. Alex lifts me off him, settling me against his side. Someone presses a warm cloth between my thighs, gently cleaning me up.
When all that is done, they crowd into the bed.
“Anyone hungry?” King asks.
Alex and I grunt. How is he even cognisant enough to think about food? I’m still trying to reassemble all the pieces of myself that are floating around the room.
“I could eat,” Gabe says.
“Take out and TV?”
“Sounds good.” Gabe looks over at me. “What are you two hungry for?”
My stomach answers for me, a needy growl that has the three of them laughing. “Pizza and beer sounds good.”
“Pizza and beer?” Gabe parrots.
“What’s wrong with that?”
King’s up, sweatpants on, that gorgeous chest on full display. “Don’t come between her and a pizza, friend.”
“Nothing’s wrong, Princess. Just didn’t expect you to have such everyman tastes.”
It’s kind of fun surprising him. “There are all kinds of things you don’t know about me.”
“I’m going to be a star pupil.”
Alex reaches over me to smack Gabe with a pillow. “Go get dressed.”
Gabe rolls out of bed, bounding off toward the closet. They’re so comfortable around each other, a little bossy, just one more thing I’ve missed out on. But that stops now.
“You’re good with pizza?” I confirm.
He pulls me in for a kiss. “I’m good with pizza.”
I’m the last one to get dressed, and as I’m standing at the sink trying to brush the tangles out of my hair, my phone rings. Since I’ve already blocked my mother, my blood pressure stays in the realm of normal. Crossing to the tub, I pluck up my phone and see Simon’s name across the top.
I put him on speaker phone and finish brushing my hair. “Hey Simon.”
“Katrina, great news! The jade plant is ready for its new home.”
I’d totally forgotten about the giant plant Roman and I helped Simon and Bonnie free from its old pot. Was that really a week ago?
“I have bad news,” I say, picking up my phone and wandering downstairs in search of the guys. “I’m locked out of my apartment at the moment. There was a water leak. They’re still investigating and won’t let any of us in.”
“No way! That’s awful. Is your place okay?”
“I don’t know.” I’ve been trying to keep my cool about it, and distractions help, but not being able to go home is the weirdest feeling. Like limbo.
“When did it happen?”
I fill Simon in on the details and go find the guys in the den. Gabe and King are wrestling over the remote. Alex sits to the side, sprawled, a beer in hand, content to watch the throwdown. Leaning against the door frame, I take in the shenanigans, my heart full.
“I don’t know if you should deliver it here or wait until I’m back in my apartment, whenever that is.”
Gabe, who lost the war of the remote, turns to me, a question on his handsome face. I hold my phone to my chest and explain my dilemma.
“Have him bring it here.” He crosses the room.
“Are you sure? This plant is as big as I am. It’ll be a bear to move again.”
He glances over his shoulder at King, and for a second, I think he’s going to volunteer my bestie to move said plant. But his expression softens. “I thought we might stay here for a while. Joshua doesn’t need the place. In fact, he told me he’s thinking about selling.”
“Really?” King chimes in.
“Simon,” I say into the phone. “Why don’t you bring it here?”
Gabe rattles off the address, and Simon promises to text when he’s on his way over tomorrow. Disconnecting the call, I glance up at Gabe.
“You really want to stay here?” Didn’t he just outfit his apartment for all of us?
I miss my place. My closet. My plants. My things.
“Don’t you?” he asks, bending his knees so he can look me in the eye. “There’s space for everyone. The location’s killer. We have one of the only townhouses with an attached garage. We only need to use the elevator if we want to. And there’s a backyard with your name on it.”
Butter me up, why don’t you?
“Okay, I do like that part.” Blasted man knows my weaknesses. Not all of them, I amend.
He takes my hand and tugs me toward the sectional, positioning me between the others. King mutes the television. “Is he really thinking of selling?”
“That’s what he said.”
Gabe brings me a beer, twisting off the top. I love watching his hands move.
“I wonder what he’d take for it,” King muses, looking out the window.
“You in the market?” Alex asks, thumbnail peeling back the label on his bottle.
Kingston shrugs. “Never know. I like my sailboat, but I don’t think we’d all fit.”
My shoulders drop, and the tiny balloon of hope deflates. Of course he makes a joke. It’s silly to plan out a whole future in my head when we haven’t even discussed it yet, but even so, I see it so clearly. I want it. I want them.
It feels like we’re talking about moving in together, and everyone’s on board. But then King backpedals, and I don’t know where his head’s at. That’s to say nothing of all the travel on everyone’s schedule, but it’s starting to feel like if I want to see them, I’ve gotta get flexible.
“I like the bathtub,” I chime in and smirk over at Alex.
“Same.”
“I like the shower,” King adds.
We all glance at Gabe. He gives a sheepish shrug. “We could use a bigger bed.”