Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Dan
The sling tugs at my shoulder, a dull reminder I’ve been trying to ignore since we left the clinic. As soon as I step inside the bedroom, I reach up and work the sling over my head with one hand. The fabric slips free and I set it aside without giving it another thought.
Tom doesn’t just look around. He takes the room in like he’s measuring it, like he’s already figuring out how we fit inside it.
I take a few steps inside and halt at the foot of the bed, watching him instead of the space I’ve seen a thousand times.
It feels different now, like I’m seeing it through his eyes whether I want to or not.
The bed is made. Mel always makes it. Smooth duvet, a deep sensual red with roses. The headboard is solid wood with stainless steel accents.
I swallow, my gaze drifting over it all, and I wonder what Tom sees.
The chair in the corner still has that throw draped over it, the one she bought because she said it felt soft enough to sink into. It hasn’t moved in weeks. Maybe months. No one sits there anymore.
This room used to be our sanctuary. Not just a place to sleep. Not just routine, bodies turning toward each other out of habit. It used to sizzle. There used to be something under the surface, something that made my pulse pick up the moment the door closed behind us.
Now it’s… neat.
Ordered.
Empty in a way that has nothing to do with space.
My chest tightens before I can stop it. I swallow hard.
I don’t look at Mel. Not yet. If I do, I might see the same thing on her face. Or worse… nothing at all.
Tom walks further in, slow, unhurried. His feet are quiet on the floor, but I feel every step anyway. My gaze drops to his ass. The stretch of denim over firm buttocks pulls tight as he shifts his weight. My eyes stray to the strong lines of his solid thighs. I have an instant boner.
Jesus.
Heat flickers low in my gut. It’s been a while since anything hit that fast.
Tom reaches the armchair and turns slightly, like he’s testing the angle, the line of sight. His hand brushes the back of it, before he settles in like a king on a throne. He braces his hands on the armrests and places his feet wide apart. Owning the space.
My focus is drawn to his crotch. A healthy bulge presses against the denim. I drag a breath in through my nose and exhale slowly. I’m completely in the moment. Not shutting down or just holding on for dear life, but letting myself be here instead of rushing past like I’ve been doing for months.
Maybe that’s the difference.
Maybe that’s what he brings into the room without even trying.
Not noise. Not chaos.
Presence.
I let my gaze lift again, taking him in properly this time. The way he seems completely at ease here, in a space that feels like it’s been holding its breath.
Turning my attention to Mel, I see her nibbling her bottom lip. I want to bite that plump flesh and devour her mouth, but I'm not sure if she would welcome it. I'm not sure of anything anymore.
"Please undress each other."
The order snaps my gaze back to Tom, who's leaning back with a serene look on his face. The way his broad shoulders fill out the black shirt is mouthwatering. How can I be attracted to Mel and also insanely drawn to Tom like that? I swallow and order myself to get out of my head.
What does it matter who I’m attracted to? There are many happy relationships in this town with more than two people. Hell, Sam and Henry were a couple for years, until they added Judith to the mix. And they seem completely happy and comfortable in their triad. So, maybe?
But is Mel really okay with this? She might have said 'yes,' but is she really on board? It really isn't her fault I'm interested in men as well.
“Did you hear me?” Tom's deep voice shatters his thoughts. Now leaning forward with his elbow on his knees, he rests his chin on his palm. “What’s got you worried?”
Head in the game, stupid. “I…” I shake my head. “Nothing.” I turn to Mel and reach for the hem of her shirt.
“Stop.” Tom snaps the word and my arm drops to my side. “This whole thing isn't going to work if we don't communicate. Speak up, boy.”
Boy? Goosebumps rise on my skin and something warm settles inside my chest. The word helps me remember I'm not in charge. "I was worried that Mel is only with the two of us for me."
“That's a really good start.” Tom leans back in his seat. "Are you, Mel?"
"No." She grips my upper arm and snatches my attention back.
"No! Dan, please. I... I do want this. Yes, I want you happy and I haven't been making you happy in a very long time.
But, babe, there's nothing more sexy than two men getting it on with each other.
The thought of you and Tom together makes me so hot and bothered.
And wet. So wet it's almost embarrassing. " Her cheeks flush an endearing pink.
"Very good, Mel," Tom compliments.
When she takes a step back, I grip her wrist. “I'm glad you think so.” I use her arm as a leash to pull her closer. "If you're getting hot, let me make you more comfortable." I tease, let go of her wrist, and grab the hem of her shirt instead.
With a giggle, Mel raises her arms and lets me slide the shirt up and over her head.
Beneath the garment, she's in a functional black sports bra, but that doesn't matter to me.
Her full breasts might not be as firm as they were but the abundant flesh nearly spills over the cups.
I use the back of my hand to stroke over the bare skin above the black fabric and she bites her lip again. Her pupils dilate.
"Your turn."
Mel
My hands come up before I can think about it.
I know this body.
Or I did.
My fingers slide under the hem of his shirt, brushing warm skin, and I pause.
It’s not because I don’t recognize him, but because I do.
The weight of him is familiar. The way his body meets my hands without giving or resisting, like it’s always been there, something I could lean into without thinking.
My palms flatten against him, moving upward, slower now, taking him in piece by piece.
There’s strength there, still. As my hands glide over his skin, I meet scars I know by heart.
Knife between the ribs. Bullet wounds in his torso, his right shoulder where the exit wound is ragged and raised because it got infected.
That alone pulls something tight in my chest.
The fabric lifts. I push it over his shoulders, my fingertips dragging lightly as it goes, and his breath catches. The exhalation is barely there, but I feel it where our bodies are close.
I look up.
For a second, I expect distance. Politeness. That careful space we’ve kept between us for too long.
It’s not there.
His pupils are blown wide, dark swallowing the blue I know so well. His breathing is uneven, chest rising a fraction too fast, like he’s trying to keep control and not quite managing.
It hits me low and deep.
My hands move back to him, slower now, tracing across his chest, over skin I used to know without looking. My thumbs brush over the flat disks of his nipples, and his muscles shift under my touch. A response he’s not hiding.
Warmth spreads through me.
My fingers hook into the waistband of his jeans.
Some raised scar tissue from shrapnel beneath my fingers reminds me I’m lucky he’s still with me.
I ease his jeans down, watching my hands move, feeling every small contact.
I graze my knuckles over the bulge between his legs and smile at the slight hitch in his breath.
My hands slide down with the denim, and I kneel to shove the fabric down his legs. He places his arm on my shoulder and braces to step out of the jeans. When I rise, I make sure to touch as much naked skin as I can reach. His stomach tightens under my touch.
I press in closer, until there’s nowhere left for the heat between us to go but through me. My breath slows without effort, settling deeper in my chest.
His breathing doesn’t match mine.
It rises faster, uneven, the air catching and releasing like he’s trying to keep pace and failing.
I feel it under my palms when my hands move back up, resting against his ribs, holding there.
He doesn’t pull back. If anything, he leans in a fraction, barely there, but enough that the contact deepens. Enough that I feel the answer in it.
“Get on the bed on your hands and knees facing Dan.”
My nipples pebble at the command. For a moment, I’d forgotten there was a third person in our room. Feeling a little guilty about that, I scramble to obey the order. I move onto the bed and settle on my hands and knees near the edge, close enough to reach him.
“That’s right.”
Dan’s cock stands tall and proud from between a neat nest of hair. I lick my lips and lean forward to take him in my mouth when Tom’s words halt me.
“Slow down, minx. Lovemaking isn’t a sprint. Ease him into it.”
I blink and look up at my husband. Dan is smiling down at me. All right. There’s a slurping sound as I lap up the precum oozing from the tip. The taste is sweet, tangy and salty at the same time, and I lean forward.
“Lick the underside. That’s it. Good girl.”
For a moment, I feel irritation. I know how to please my husband. But beneath my tongue, Dan’s cock twitches, and he groans. Hmm. I lick his cock like it’s an ice-cream cone, and I’m rewarded with more liquid. I lap it up.
“That’s a good girl.” Tom’s voice sounds a bit strangled and when I turn my head enough so I can see him, he’s stroking himself through his jeans. Heat blossoms low in my belly. Two men, both hard for me.
“Suckle on the head and tease the underside with the tip of your tongue.”
Dan’s hips undulate when I follow Tom’s order, subsequently pushing himself a bit deeper inside.
“That’s it. Relax your throat and grip his thighs.” Tom hums his approval. “Dan, take control.”
Dan cups my face with his right hand and cocks his hips. I gag a bit when he surges forward and he starts to pull out. I understand the wisdom of the thigh gripping, as I squeeze my hands and dig my fingers in his upper legs, halting him.
“That’s it, Dan, give her a moment to adjust, but don’t give up the control.”
There’s rustling as Tom rises from the chair and he moves outside my peripheral vision. I whimper a protest.
“Don’t worry, minx, I’m not leaving.”
I relax and swallow. My throat constricts around the intrusion.
Dan groans. “Do that again.
I obey and he drops his head back.
The mattress dips, and callused hands close around my hips. I arch my back in invitation.
Tom lets out a throaty laugh. “What a greedy little plaything we have here.” He uses his hands to pull my buttocks to the side. “Fuck she’s wet, Dan. She’s ready.”
Apparently, the men exchange a look, because Dan’s jaw firms before he starts fucking my face.
I hollow my cheeks trying to give him as much pleasure as possible, when a warm flat tongue licks my slit from my clit all the way to my back hole.
I wiggle and air puffs against my sensitive folds, as Tom tightens his grip on my hips and begins to eat me out in earnest.
I can’t help it. With all the build-up anticipation, it only takes a few strategic wiggles and licks before my spine locks and my muscles go rigid.
“She’s about to come,” Dan warns. His voice comes out as a warbled growl.
The pressure against my pussy recedes for a moment, as Tom lifts his head to order, “Come for us.” Then his mouth is back, and Dan’s cock hits the back of my throat.
I cry out around a mouth full of cock as the release takes me.
It starts as pressure, low and steady, gathering just out of reach. I feel it in the way my breath shortens, in the way my body tightens without me asking it to. Everything narrows. The world softens at the edges until there’s only this… pull.
I try to hold onto it. Stretch it out. But it keeps building anyway, rising in small waves that roll through me, each one a little stronger, a little harder to ignore.
My fingers curl. My toes press into whatever’s beneath me.
There’s a moment where I hover right on the edge of it, suspended, aware that something is about to tip.
And then it does.
It’s not a single instant. It’s a release that breaks open and keeps going, like something unwinds deep inside me. My body takes over, moving without permission, tightening and letting go in a rhythm I can’t control. My breath leaves me in a sound I don’t recognize as mine.
For a few seconds, I’m nowhere else.
Not thinking. Not watching myself. Just… inside it.
It spreads outward, warmth rushing through my chest, down my limbs, leaving everything loose in its wake. The tension that had been coiled so tight unravels all at once, and I feel it in every part of me.