Laura Jo Phillips (57 page)

Jackson, Clark and Rob sat tensely, listening carefully to every word Hope was saying.  Jackson would not allow himself to make the mistake of jumping to conclusions.  Hope was not a woman to be pushed.  It was one of her strengths, and as much as they wished they could convince her to accept them, and their feelings for her, they would not change a single thing about her.

“I have lost my family, and my friends,” Hope continued.  “Including one friend that meant more to me than any friend I’ve ever had, even though I knew her for only a few days.  So I must ask myself, why is it that I can accept my love for Grace, whom I’ve known for a handful of days, but I cannot accept my feelings for the three of you?”

Hope clenched her hands into fists, then stretched her fingers out as she gathered the courage to say this last part.  “The answer, which I admit that I fought, is fear.”

Fear?” Jackson asked gently.  “Fear of love?”

“No,” Hope replied.  “Fear of loss.”

“You fear that you will lose us?” Clark asked.

“I have lost everyone who has ever meant anything to me,” she said.  “My father, my mother, my aunt who finished raising me, my cousin who was like a brother to me, and now Grace.  As much as those losses hurt, I knew that if I accepted the feelings that I have for the three of you, and yours for me, that the loss of any one of you would be devastating.  It might well destroy me.”

“I wish that we could promise you that you would never lose any of us,” Jackson said.  “I wish that we could promise you that if you do lose one of us, that it will not be as bad as you imagine.  But such promises can not be made,
Niha
.  I am sorry.”

“I know that,” Hope replied.  “I thought that, in order to avoid pain, I would avoid love.  But if I do that, I miss out on the purpose of life.  I have discovered that while that works in theory, it doesn’t work so well in fact.  Now that I know you, how do I return to my life as it was?  The clock does not run backwards, does it?”

Jackson smiled.  “Time is not measured by the cup.  It is a river that is endlessly renewed.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Hope said.  “Did you make that up?”

“No,” Jackson replied.  “They are words inscribed on an ancient artifact of our people.  A small bird that looks much like your owls.”

Hope’s eyes widened in surprise, then she shook her head and laughed.  “All right, all right, I give up,” she said. 

“Give up?” Jackson asked curiously.

“I am all but drowning in hints and signs that this is my destiny, to be with you, to raise Harlan and Ellicia’s sons, to be a part of Jasan.  I’m almost afraid to ignore them at this point.”

Jackson frowned.  As much as he wanted Hope, and he wanted her as much as his next breath, he did not want her to feel pressed into accepting them.  He wanted,
needed
, for it to be her choice.

Hope shook her head once more, still smiling as she rose to her feet and walked toward him.  “That was a joke,” she said.  “I choose to accept my love for the three of you, and your love for me.  How’s that?”

“That’s perfect,” Jackson said.  He stood up and smiled as Hope wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned up to kiss him. 

Jackson’s blue eyes smoldered with unrestrained emotion as he lowered his mouth to hers.  His kiss was hot, but also gentle, as he coaxed her to open her lips for him.  He went slowly, giving her time to accept and explore each step before going to the next.  His lips against hers were soft and warm, his tongue hot and velvety, the taste and scent of him filling her senses.

She copied him, using her tongue to taste his lips, slowly, lightly and tentatively at first.  When her tongue slipped into his mouth, his deep groan caused her skin to pebble as she shivered with pleasure. 

She had never suspected that kissing could be like this.  So intimate and personal, so intensely erotic.  She’d never realized how incredibly sensitive her lips were, or how soft a man’s could be. 

The kiss deepened until she forgot about exploring and allowed herself to get swept up in the passion of it, unaware of anyone or anything but Jackson and his mouth on hers.  Until she felt a hand on her hair and pulled back, startled.

“Easy,
aspara
,” Clark said.  “I have longed to see the glory of your hair released from this braid, if you would allow.”

The desire in Clark’s voice was so intense that Hope’s body ached to hear it.

“All right,” she said, unable to speak above a whisper.

Clark smiled and lowered his mouth to hers, his mouth harder than Jackson’s, but just as hot.  When he lifted his mouth from hers she was panting, her body so filled with unfamiliar desire that she burned.

She felt herself lifted into someone’s arms and looked up to see Rob gazing down at her as he carried her from the living room, his silver eyes shining.  He lowered his mouth to hers as he walked, and her arms wrapped around his neck as his tongue invaded her mouth.  Rob’s kiss was deeper, more intense somehow, and just as arousing to her.  She reveled in the differences between them.  The way they tasted, the way they smelled, the way they kissed.

Rob set her on the bed and she looked up to see Jackson and Clark on either side of him, all three of them gazing down at her with hot eyes.  She had the sense that they were waiting for something.  But what? she wondered.  She tilted her head as she studied them, and it came to her.

She smiled at them, a wide, full smile filled with joy and promise.  They immediately smiled back at her and began removing their clothes in a rush.  Almost before she knew it, the three of them stood before her completely naked.  Her mouth went dry, but it wasn’t from fear.

These were the biggest, most muscular, most well-built men she had ever had the pleasure to look upon.  For a moment, her fingers nearly itched with the desire to paint them, just as they stood.  They were so beautiful with their broad chests, bulging arms, narrow hips and long, strong legs.  Their skin was a deep tan color, and the scars that marked each of them here and there seemed only to accentuate their perfection, rather than take away from it.

“I don’t think I’m going to live up to all of that,” she said softly, suddenly feeling hesitant and nervous.

“All of what?” Jackson asked, feeling Hope’s sudden tension but not understanding the reason for it.

“You three are so perfect and beautiful,” she said.  “I’m not.”

Jackson looked at Clark, then Rob, then down at himself before looking back at Hope with a deep frown.  “I am sorry,
Niha
, but I don’t understand.  We are...males.”  He shrugged as if that explained something. 

“You are beautiful,” Clark said.  “More beautiful than any woman we have ever seen.”

Hope’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.  “I am not beautiful,” she said frankly.  “I have a big nose, my mouth is too wide, my jaw too square, and I have small breasts.” 

“You. Are. Beautiful,” Jackson insisted.  He held his hand out to her and she took it, uncertain what he wanted until he gave her a gentle tug.  She stood up, wondering for a moment if they had changed their minds.  There was certainly one portion of their anatomies that hadn’t, she thought to herself.

“Come,” Jackson said, leading her across the room to a mirror hanging beside a wide dresser.  He positioned her so that she was facing the mirror and could see herself from head to toe.  She could see Jackson’s reflection as he stood right behind her, and Clark and Rob stood beside her.

“Look in the mirror,” Jackson said, gently cupping her jaw as he spoke.  “You have gorgeous, turquoise eyes surrounded by long thick lashes.  Eyes that glow when you are happy, spark when you are angry, and draw in all of the light around you the moment you enter a room.

“Your mouth is an erotic dream, so lush and soft, your lips so expressive and sweet they seem to beg to licked and kissed.  The fantasies I’ve had about this mouth of yours cannot be spoken aloud, though one day, I plan to fulfill them.

Your jaw is perfect for your bone structure, delicate and feminine yet, at the same time, strong and proud.  Your nose is bold and suits your face.  If you had a tiny little nose you would not be half as stunning as you are.”

Hope listened to Jackson, watching his hands in the mirror as he stroked each feature that he spoke of, trying to see herself through his eyes.  She could not deny that much of what he said made sense to her.  Especially the part about her nose.  She had always thought it big, but it was a classic Greek nose, and it suited her classic Greek features.  She could have easily had her nose changed.  Such things were done all the time and it took only an hour or so in a doctor’s office.  But she had never been able to see herself differently than she was.

“Your skin is luminous,” Jackson continued, “as though you are lit from within, and so exquisitely soft that it’s a pleasure just to touch you.”

As Jackson spoke, Rob knelt down and began removing her shoes as Clark released the fastenings on her jeans and pushed them down.  Jackson lifted her t-shirt over her head, and Clark and Rob made short work of her underwear.  Within seconds, she was as naked as they were.  She had an intense urge to cover herself, but she forced herself to remain still.  The guys displayed no embarrassment at being nude before her, so she would try to behave the same.

“Your breasts are perfect,” Jackson said as he cupped them gently in his hands.  “Sweet and round.  Why would you think they should be any size other than they are?  Your body is lean and muscular, yet still curvy, as a woman should be.  Your hips are not too narrow for child bearing, your bottom is deliciously full and tempting, your waist so tiny I can nearly encompass it with my hands.

“You are utterly beautiful, Hope Strigida,” Jackson continued.  “There is not one thing about you that we would alter in the tiniest way.  You carry yourself with feminine power, grace, and confidence, without resorting to masculine ways as some females do.”

Hope looked at herself in the mirror, unable to see what Jackson described, but when she looked at his face, then Clark’s, then Rob’s, she saw it.  The way they were looking at her told her that, in their eyes, she was all the things Jackson had said, and more. 

“Can you see yourself as we see you?” Jackson asked.

She turned around in his arms and rose up on her toes to kiss his jaw.  “I feel beautiful when you guys look at me,” she said.  “That is enough for me.”

Jackson gazed into her eyes for a moment, then bent to kiss her tenderly as he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the bed where he set her down.

“Lie back,” he said softly.  Hope did as he asked, feeling nervous again when he positioned her so that she was lying across the bed with her legs hanging over the edge.

Rob climbed onto the bed beside her, running his fingers lightly across her abdomen.  “Your skin is so soft,” he whispered as Clark climbed up on her other side and lifted her braid.  He untied the silk cord and began unraveling it.  She watched him for a moment, wondering why he seemed so fascinated with her hair, when she was distracted by Jackson.

He placed his hands on her thighs and gently urged her to spread her legs wide before kneeling down between them.  Hope felt her face heat, but at the same time, she was intensely curious about what he meant to do. 

“Your scent is so enticing,” he said.  “I cannot wait to taste you.”

Hope felt a thrill race through her body at his words.  Her nipples hardened into tight peaks and her pussy grew impossibly wet.  She was embarrassed by that for a moment, until she glanced down and saw the expression on Jackson’s face.  He was obviously enjoying whatever he was seeing, so she let her head fall back and tried to relax.

Rob leaned down and began to slowly lap at one breast, as Clark ran his fingers through her long hair.  “I love how silky and soft your hair is,” he said, spreading the long tresses across his body before leaning down to take her other nipple into his mouth. 

Everywhere Rob and Clark touched her with their mouths left a trail of heat on her skin that caused her pussy to clench and throb.  As they continued to suck and lick at her breasts and nipples, she became hotter and more aroused until her nervousness vanished completely beneath the intensity of her growing desire.

By the time Jackson took a long, slow, hot lick of her pulsing pussy, she felt nothing but pleasure and deep arousal.  She moaned at the feel of his hot tongue in her most sensitive place, her hips arching helplessly in a silent plea for more.  When her moans became deeper and more desperate, he sucked her hard, throbbing clit between his lips and lashed it with his tongue, sending Hope over the edge into a deep shuddering orgasm unlike anything she had ever imagined possible. 

“I have never seen anything more beautiful,” Clark said hoarsely as he watched Hope’s face in the throes of passion. 

“That is a sight I will want to see every day for the remainder of my life,” Rob agreed.

Jackson lifted her hips in his hands, spreading her even wider as he started again, his hot tongue lapping at her burning, wet pussy.  He wanted her body completely relaxed and open before they tried to enter her, and the best way to do that was bring her to orgasm several times. 

Rob and Clark returned their attentions to her breasts and she felt her desire begin to rebound.  It wasn’t long before she climaxed again, her hips straining toward Jackson’s mouth as her body exploded with pleasure.