22. ~Caterina~
22
~Caterina~
Things had been intense.
I’d been so focused on getting back here, on being surrounded by my men again, that I hadn’t looked beyond that. I had only seen our reunion through rose-colored glasses. I hadn’t entertained any of the rest when I’d imagined it. None of the complications, the pain, nothing.
I hadn’t exactly left in the best way, or on the best of terms.
I’d basically taken off against what the three of them had wanted.
Had it been the right decision at the time?
Yes.
Yes, it had been.
I’d needed to get away. I’d needed to clear my head, and that wouldn’t have been able to be achieved while still in the middle of all the madness that had been bearing down on me at the time. I’d also needed to heal physically, and that also wouldn’t have been possible while trying to evade a fucking hit. And it had been safer for my men for Joe and I to lead those pursuing motherfuckers away from them.
But doing that hadn’t come without consequences.
To us, to our relationship.
I knew it had taken a hit and as much as they’d been playing it off and basically tiptoeing around me and being so careful, I knew them well now, and I could feel it from them, feel the strain.
I’d worried that bringing Joe back here with me would be trying for the guys, given the way I knew him to be when he interacted with other people, something he was only used to doing in combat or through fieldwork, not as an actual feeling human being. But I hadn’t been able to bring myself to say goodbye to him, or even to send him somewhere else in the city to be nearby while we were still immersed in this war.
At least he was getting a grip now where his aggression and disapproval toward the guys was concerned. It had taken some of the weight off.
Some of it.
As I approached my room, my pulse picked up, and I started to drag my feet.
I was nervous.
We’d agreed just to be together tonight, not to get into everything. Just to relish being with each other after all that time apart.
But what if all the unspoken shit between us caused an awful awkwardness?
And what if I couldn’t handle the physicality? What if it triggered my grief over the miscarriage? What if I fucked up everything? More than I already had by leaving in the first place?
Shit. I’d never felt so unsure of myself before.
It just felt like a lot was on the line when it came to our relationship. I needed this to go well in spite of everything. It mattered so much to me that it did.
I reached the door and stopped outside.
And then I heard their voices.
“Waking up with her wrapped up in us tomorrow.”
“Wow, N. That’s the sweetest shit you’ve ever said.”
“Nah, all bets are off when it comes to Caterina, Sunshine. He’s said a lot of sweet shit about her, and to her.”
I heard all of them chuckling.
“What about you, J?”
“Sitting down together and working on our partnership. Maybe her reading me a bedtime story, too.”
“You’re still hoping for the bedtime story thing again, huh?”
“Fuck off, big boy, you would be as well, if you knew how great it was with her. She tucked me in and stroked my hair until I fell asleep, too.”
More chuckling sounded, which had me smiling, the sound warming me and serving to do a lot to calm me down.
“Milo? What about you? What’s the thing you’re most looking forward to about her being back?” I heard Nico ask.
That was what they were discussing? Wow, it was… it was amazing.
“Getting that stunned, yet excitable look from her when I make her one of her favorite foods or meals. Ah, there’s also seeing her kick ass when it comes to the hacking, her and Levi going head-to-head. That’s gonna be extreme.”
“Yeah, it is. Our monstrous and feral sides going head-to-head should be one for the ages too.”
“Or a cataclysmic event, N.”
More laughing broke out.
And it was absolutely wonderful.
The next thing I knew, I was pushing open the door and stepping inside.
I closed the door behind me, and all eyes were on me in the next second.
There the three of them were, just chilling on my bed.
Julian was sprawled across one side of it, his head propped up with his elbow, his sexy chiseled chest and those nipple hoops on display, with him only wearing a pair of his cobalt-blue boxers.
Milo perched on the edge in his usual ramrod straight position in his crimson boxers and one of his go-to white tanks that really highlighted all that beautiful ink and his powerhouse muscle.
And Nico was leaning back against the headboard, his knees pulled up a little with his feet planted flat on the sheets in a pair of his black lounge pants, his tattoos and those mouthwatering abs on display.
It was quite the sight.
Highly eroticizing.
It had a hot thrill running through me.
“Sorry I took so long,” I blurted out, my uneasiness as they stared at me rising up again and threatening to get the best of me.
What was happening? This wasn’t me. Get a grip.
“You were barely ten minutes,” Milo told me.
“And even if you were longer, we didn’t put a time constraint on it,” Julian added. “On you settling your dad in for the night. That’s a big deal, Cat.”
“Especially for you, principessa.”
Yeah, it was. And I was still processing it.
I smiled and walked over to the bed. “Something we can spend hours discussing in the coming days, if you all like.” I winced. “Or don’t like, given how it went tonight. I’m sorry he was aggressive and—”
“Don’t apologize,” Milo said.
“Especially not for somebody else’s actions,” Julian told me.
“We’ll figure it all out. It won’t be a problem,” Nico assured me.
I stared between them. “You’re all being so incredible about this, about all of it.”
“Aren’t we usually?” Julian jested.
“You know what I mean.”
A chin lift and some sort of silent communication between Nico and Julian had the latter pushing off the bed and coming to me, while Nico looked on, scooting to the side of the bed and Milo went to sit beside him.
“We’ve had enough negativity lately,” Julian said, reaching me and taking my hands gently. He stroked his fingers over mine, sending little sparks of need through me, just from that. It just went to show how much tension had been building up for me since I’d been away from them, from their touch. “Don’t you think so, darlin’?”
“I do,” I uttered, my voice unsteady, overcome by their understanding, by the intensity I could feel coming off them all, the care, the sheer level of love.
It was a lot to take in.
It was amazing, awe-inspiring.
And it was also heartbreaking that I’d been away from it.
Worse. That me leaving could have done something to hurt that.
To hurt them and what we had.
Emotion at the thought of that overtook me, and then Julian was stepping into me and wiping away some stray tears that spilled down my cheeks. “Shh. It’s all right. You’re all right. You’re here with us now. We’re with you. Let all the rest go, because we’re not going anywhere.”
I smiled out at him. He was always so perceptive, so gifted at reading people, especially those close to him. He could see down really deep.
“And neither are you,” Nico rumbled, pushing to his feet. “Ever again.”
It was a promise and a threat all at once.
His possessive side was showing.
And I was actually right here for it with how I was feeling at the moment.
“I don’t ever want to,” I told them all. “That means you’re all stuck with me, I’m afraid.”
Julian grinned and leaned in, brushing his lips over mine. “Sounds perfect,” he whispered against my lips, a moment before he swept his tongue over them, then took me in a sensual kiss that had me weak at the knees within seconds.
I ran my fingers over his chest, giving teasing tugs to his sexy nipple hoops, and it had him groaning into my mouth, his hands delving into my hair and ramping up the sensuality of it all.
Nico was there in the next moment and Julian broke our kiss so he could slide his hoodie off my body, then pull my strappy tank up over my head. A single flick to the back of my bra had it popping open.
I looked out at him in a heady daze as he surprised me by carefully easing it off me, then tossing it aside.
His striking sapphire eyes burned into mine as he pressed his big hands to my breasts and kneaded them softly, in a mind-whirling erotic way that had me panting within moments.
I caught sight of Milo grabbing three condom packets from one of the nightstands. “It’s okay,” I uttered, just about able to summon rational thought. “I’m still on birth control.” And no complicated other medications interfering with it this time.
“Okay, sweetheart.”
The three of them stilled for a moment, as the unspoken nature of that rolled over them.
But, fortunately, they managed to move past it, and then Julian shifted and trailed his tongue along the column of my throat, over my lips, dipping into my mouth, then teasing my lips again.
Fingers hooked into the waistband of my pants, and I turned slightly to see Milo there, his eyes hooded, as he then drew both my pants and panties down my legs, until I was stepping out of them, then standing surrounded by my men completely bared to them.
“Ready for us, baby?” Nico asked me, his voice strained, like he was struggling to keep himself in check.
But he didn’t need to. I wanted it. I wanted them so badly.
I grasped one of his hands on my breasts. “Yes. Beyond ready.”
In the next second, Milo trailed his hands down my stomach, then over my pussy, his fingers dragging slowly through my folds. A rush of pleasurable intensity rolled through me that had my body arching and pushing back against him. I smiled when I felt him naked behind me now, his hard dick against my ass cheeks. It had me pushing my breasts harder into Nico’s hands too and turning my head to give Julian better access as he continued teasing my mouth and neck, sending trembles of bliss through me.
Nico dropped to his knees, then kissed all over my pussy, startling me yet again with his tenderness. “Fucking missed you,” he uttered between kisses.
My response caught in my throat when I felt my ass cheeks being spread open, then Milo’s tongue circling my asshole.
“Oh God,” I choked.
At the same time, Julian trailed his tongue down to my breasts, then started biting at my nipples, sucking and teasing the hell out of them.
When Nico dragged his tongue through my folds, a cry escaped me, the three of them driving me higher and higher as I succumbed to their attentions and the pleasurable reverie they were creating for me.
It wasn’t long before I was shuddering around them, and as Milo thrust his tongue inside me at the same time that Nico nibbled at my clit, ecstasy crashed into me and I writhed against them as I came screaming out into the room.
As I was still in the throes of it, Milo gathered me into his arms, and then he was laying me down in the middle of the bed. He covered my body with his, then took me in a deep kiss that had my head spinning and me clutching at his big biceps.
“Damn… missed your hot little kisses, bellezza.”
“I’ve missed yours,” I said, grinning up at him and chasing his lips as he went to ease back.
I stopped him from doing that, linking my arms around his neck and holding him to me, then deepening the kiss that had a sexy rumble emanating from him.
He ground his cock against my thigh, and I bucked my hips in need.
All too soon, his cock was gone as he moved to the side, still kissing me, but no longer fully on me.
I realized why in the next second, when I felt the familiar sensation of lube being spread over my asshole.
I looked out through the kiss to see Julian there.
Then I was moaning as he added more and pushed two fingers inside, getting it nice and slick. A thrill ran through me from his toe-curling movements and the thought of where it was obviously leading.
“Keep her cunt nice and wet,” I heard him say a moment before I was jolting when Nico was there again, slicking his tongue all over my pussy.
Like a whirlwind this time, making me buck on the bed and moan into Milo’s mouth as our tongues tangled.
The burn in my ass became heated pleasure as Julian worked his magic with the lube, and then I was thrusting my hips and pushing harder against his fingers. “Yeah, that’s right. Show us how much you want it, darlin’.”
Milo broke our kiss and then I watched as he turned toward Julian on his knees and then Julian squirted lube all over Milo’s cock and slicked it all over his shaft with his free hand, while his other was still pumping into my ass, teasing and pinching Milo’s crown as he went until Milo was panting from it.
Nico pushing two fingers inside me had me swinging my head toward him.
He smirked devilishly as he curled them, then flicked my clit with his tongue, making me arch off the bed.
I almost came right there when Julian also jerked his fingers out of my ass, the sensation intense in the best way.
“Fuck!” I cried. “More. Please, more.”
He chuckled darkly, then eased back to watch as Milo grasped my waist and hoisted me up, then slid beneath me.
A gasp of excitement escaped me as I felt his slick cock pushing at my asshole in the next moment.
He stroked my hair and my breasts as he rocked into me, filling my ass with more and more of his cock, until he was fully seated inside me.
I threw my head back against his chest, and then I was whimpering when he didn’t move and just stayed still inside me letting me adjust. He was being so gentle, so careful.
They all were.
That was made even more apparent when Nico settled between my spread open thighs, grasping his rock-hard cock, and then eased inside my pussy, an inch at a time. My eyes rolled back in my head as the slow and easy of it had me feeling every moment of the fullness consuming me.
“Fucking, yes,” Nico growled. “Too long. Too fucking long.”
I bucked my hips, my desperation growing to unbearable heights.
I saw Nico give a nod to Milo a moment before they both started to move, alternating their thrusts.
Their deep and long thrusts, the unhurried pace ramping up the intensity several notches.
I realized then.
They weren’t just being careful.
They were taking everything in, relishing being with me again.
And they were loving me.
It wasn’t rough, hard, and dirty as it usually was when all four of us came together.
It was all-consuming in a whole different way. One that took my breath away and warmed me down to my bones at the same time.
My whole body trembled as pleasure engulfed me, and through the haze of it, I looked out to see Julian climbing onto the bed, now naked.
He grasped the base of his cock, and then he was rubbing his crown over my folds, titillating my clit with his piercings in a way that had me whimpering with sparks of bliss adding to all the rest.
Shit. They had me so completely.
I could barely see straight, let alone think.
It was just this. Just us in this moment together.
Just sensation. Just the utter peace of being with the three of them like this.
Julian’s movements faltered, which was highly unlike him, and I turned my head to see the reason for it. Milo had reached out behind him and he was fingering his ass, stabbing rough and deep.
“Motherfucker,” Julian choked, slamming his hips back and forth in a call for more, which also had his crown and piercings bumping against my clit rapid-fire.
Over and over and over.
“Shit!” I cried.
Nico and Milo’s thrusts came faster and harder then, Nico fisting his hands in Julian’s hair for something to ground him, while Milo fisted my hair with his free hand while slamming into me and Julian at the same time.
Pre-cum leaked all over my pussy and the warm, sticky sensation was another level.
In the next second, I was losing it and ramming back and forth against Nico and Milo, fighting to meet their thrusts, taking and succumbing to everything they were giving me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I screamed, as it all collided and pleasure wracked my body, and I came in a shuddering mess all over them.
“Goddammit,” Milo grunted a moment before I felt him spurt inside my ass.
In the throes of it, he twisted his fingers inside Julian, which set him off, and then he was coming all over my pussy.
“Fuck,” Nico growled, his thrusts becoming deeper and jerkier, before he then pulled out of me at the last second, then rose up and sprayed his cum all over my breasts.
Marking me like Julian and Milo.
Reclaiming me.
Just what tonight had been about for all of us.
What we’d all needed it to be about.