Marrying Mari (17 page)

Her teasing had made his eyes bright, burning cobalt. And even as she looked at him, his erection seemed to harden and thicken.

Desire made her feel faint. She had never wanted a man as badly as she wanted Ethan right now. She knew he wanted her too. But she wanted him to feel just as desired.

Which is why as soon as he stepped into the stall and closed the door behind him, Mari dropped to her knees and sucked his cock deep into her mouth.

“Damn!” The surprise in Ethan’s voice made her smile, and she laid her hands on his thighs for support. The strong muscles there flexed under her touch. “Baby, that’s not what I—oh, God.” His sharp intake of breath pleased her again, and she repeated the swirling lick of her tongue against his hot, velvet skin. She closed her eyes. His skin was so velvety, but underneath he was so steely hard. It was a gorgeous combination. And he smelled so good, like clean sweat and the morning air and Ethan. She breathed him in and relaxed her throat.

Fingers clenched in her wet hair, guiding her head without coercion. She glanced up, and he was bracing himself against the shower wall with the other hand, his head back, his beautiful eyes closed, his mouth open.

“Take me deeper.” He looked down at her, and she thought she would drown from his dazzling blue stare. “Suck me harder. Deeper.”

She pulled back a little and began stroking him with her mouth, pulling deeply with her cheeks as she did. She licked him, using the flat of her tongue on the throbbing vein beneath. She pulled back completely and painted the tip with her tongue, tasting and licking thoroughly. With one hand she cupped his balls, gently exploring and caressing as he groaned.

Then, relaxing her throat completely, she surged up, taking him deep. Ethan pumped twice against her and snarled something. He tugged gently on her hair, pulling his cock out of her mouth. She stared up at him, panting.

“Damn it, Mari,” he said, sounding almost angry, and in one motion pulled her to her feet, into his mouth, lifting her against him.

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Ethan released her lips. “Wrap your legs around me.” She circled his waist, and he lifted her over his erection. “Okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, and he lowered her onto him, thrusting up at the same time.
So deep.

Her head fell back. He braced himself with one arm again against the wall of the stall. With the other, he lifted and lowered her, filling her again and again. She lifted her head and looked down to where they were joined. She leaned forward, bit his jaw and began pumping up and down against him, using the muscles of her strong thighs and backside, matching his urgent rhythm.

There were sighs and moans and groans and growls and kisses. She dug her short nails into his shoulders and he sucked a love bite into her throat. She twisted her body slightly and he cursed. He thrust deeper than before, and she cried out in pleasure.

“Not deep enough,” he said, hard, and pulled out. She whimpered, but Ethan turned her and pushed her hands against the shower wall, bending her in half. “Stay like that.” Holding her hips in place he thrust, and both of them groaned as he went deeper than before. She dropped her head and moaned.

He reached forward and pinched her nipples as he pumped.

The shower streamed over both of them as he drove into her, again and again.

“Now. Come for me now,” he bit out between clenched teeth, and she did. Flew apart and burst, sobbing his name in her release, her body throbbing from the inside out. Seconds later, he exploded, shooting his hot come deep into her wet, silky channel.

They leaned against the wall, her legs shaky, as they pressed against each other and breathed.

He kissed her temple. “Baby, that was… I’m speechless.”

“Did I do it right?” she asked, slyly.

“Oh, yeah. Very right. Couldn’t you tell? I’m nearly dead from how right it was.”

“Shower games? Very nice.” Gabriel’s laughing tones brought Mari’s head up. “Don’t you know the shower is one of the most dangerous places in the house? I hope you practiced basic safety.” He winked at her.

“Don’t either of you knock?” she asked without heat.

Gabriel looked her up and down. “I did. On the bedroom door and the bathroom door. You didn’t hear me.”

Ethan looked over his shoulder at his friend. “Go away.”

“Okay. But now you’re one up on me.” He leveled a finger at her. “You owe me one.” He grinned and sauntered out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Ethan stood up and began rinsing off under the still-hot water.

Mari stared after Gabriel. “Was he upset?”

Ethan looked at her. “Why?”

“Us, like this, without him.”

Ethan poured body wash into his hands and began smoothing it over her back. “No, beauty. He’s not upset or jealous. Sometimes the three of us will be together. Sometimes it will just be you and me, or you and Gabe. We’ll each have our individual relationship with you, and the three of us will have the triad relationship. But we’re two different men.”

Mari nearly purred under his attention, but made herself focus on her question. “So it’s okay that you and I just did it without him?”

“It’s okay.” He tilted her chin up to look in her eyes. “That we ‘did it’, fucked, made love in your shower without him. Damn,” he said suddenly, looking down.

“What?”

“I didn’t use the condom.” He bent down and retrieved the square package from the corner of the stall. “Dammit.” He looked angry.

She stared at the condom. Allison had said Ethan wanted children soon, within the year, but he wouldn’t— No. “It’s okay. It’s the wrong time.” She hoped. “I should see my doctor, get on the pill. Given that I’ve had more sex in the last week than I did in the last twenty-three years that would be smart.”

“I can’t resist you, beauty.” He turned off the shower. “And that’s an understatement.”

Ethan toweled her off, then sent her into her bedroom with a smack on the bottom. “Get dressed. For biking,” he added cryptically and wouldn’t elaborate when she asked. He pulled on his pants and gathered everything else up in a sweaty bundle. “See you in a few minutes.” He stopped to drop a kiss on her lips, then another, deeper. “No bloody resistance,” he muttered and left, banging her door closed.

The “biking” had been the three of them shopping for a new bike for her. The fact that her original bike had been totaled in the accident had completely slipped her mind. Once she remembered it, however, she found herself fighting with Ethan and Gabriel about the cost of a new one. She knew what her dream bike was, but it took the two men putting down a credit card to pay for one that wasn’t right, for her to speak up.

Fortunately, once she opened her mouth the shop they were in not only had the model she wanted, but the bright yellow she preferred in the size and with all the details she desired.

Of course, given that Ethan and Gabriel were adamant about buying it for her, they also added a few bells and whistles she hadn’t planned on. And then they bought bikes and gear of their own, with her advice.

Later, riding back over the bridge with three bikes on the new rack on the back of the sedan, Mari stared out the window and shook her head. “Are you just going to override me everywhere?” she asked.

Gabe said patiently. “We’ve explained it all, already. You needed a new bike. Why not get the one you want and make us feel better about your safety? We bought bikes to be able to go biking with you. So?”

She looked out the window.

Gabriel leaned forward. “Mari.” When she turned her head, surprised, he spoke directly to her. “Look, I don’t want to fight about money all the time.”

“
Your
money.”

“
Our
money. Ethan’s. Mine. Yours. Ours. When we are mated—
if,
okay—what is ours becomes yours and what is yours becomes ours. No separation. Each of us cares for the other two. All of us care for our children. That is the strength of it. That is why we want you to be certain, because there is no ‘mine’ or ‘yours’, only ours. We do not think you are mating us for the money. Shit, you’ve told us enough that that’s the major stumbling block for you. I get it. You need to get this: we have money, both of us. Lots. It is a resource, not an end. Using it to make you happy, safe and fulfilled makes us happy. That’s it.” Gabe stared her in the eyes. “That’s
it
.” He sat back.

Ethan continued, speaking gently. “We both know what it is to be used for our money or our name and connections. I told you, it makes me happy to know you don’t want any of it, that you want us. Just us. However, the ridiculous amount of cash comes with us. So we’re going to keep spending it on you, beauty. And as Gabe says, that’s
it
.”

Mari stared at them. “Oh, hell. I give up.”

“How lucky will our kids be that their mother is an independent, tough-minded woman who won’t let their dads spoil them silly?” Gabriel grinned. “Or spoil her?”

She slanted him a look. “No? With my dream bike on the back, tricked out with every conceivable accessory?
Riiight
,” she said. “I can’t wait to spin it through rush hour traffic on Fifth Avenue, or down Broadway or crosstown on 59th.”

Gabe looked pale. “That’s just mean.”

She settled back and crossed her arms, shrugging. “Hey, it is what it is.”

Ethan put his hand over his chest. “Maybe we didn’t think this bike thing all the way through.”

“Maybe.” She stared out the window, smirking.

“Would this be a good time to tell you about the formal event at the Colony coming up next week, I wonder?”

“Huh?” her head swung around.

Ethan shrugged. “The annual founding celebration. This year the formal event is Saturday night.”

“It’s a ball,” Gabriel added. He said to Ethan, “I feel stupid saying that—a ball—but it is. The Colony’s version of a debutante ball, although it includes young men too. And, yeah, formal. Tuxedos and gowns.” They both looked at her.

“Uh, no!” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “Oh my God.”

“We’re back to
no
,” Gabe said to Ethan.

“Yes.”

“Sorry, sugar, but just about now we’re taking you to buy a dress.” Gabriel nodded.

“And jewelry.” Ethan added. “Big, fat jewelry.”

“Lingerie.”

“Shoes.”

“Shut up!” Mari growled. She put her head in her hands.

“Yeah, there’s no way around it,” Gabriel said apologetically. “I’d love you to go naked but Ethan is such a caveman he’d punch the first guy who looked at you sideways.”

“Jerk.” Her voice was muffled by her hands. Ethan laughed and hugged her.

Four hours later, Mariella collapsed on the bed in her new bedroom. Her feet
hurt
. If this was shopping with them for one event…she shuddered.

Apparently, having what Ethan called “ridiculous” amounts of money had advantages. Despite the day being Sunday, the couture boutique they had chosen for her formal gown was opened, just for them, and not only was the most experienced saleswoman there but the head fitter as well. Which was good, because her height required tailoring the final choice to fit her. The dress would be ready tomorrow, after alterations.

She did have bags, though. From the shoe boutique, where a pair of stilettos consisting mostly of bits of ribbon had been selected. From the tiny shop selling lingerie concoctions, where Ethan and Gabriel had towered over the silver-haired owner, where a thing called a merry widow made of satin and lace, a matching thong, and a pair of gossamer stockings were fitted and bought. From the famous name jewelry store, again opened specially for them, where many glittery and shiny things had been inspected, hung around her neck or off her ears, and discussed. In a private room in the back of the store, things had been laid out on velvet pads: pearls, diamonds of all colors, aquamarines, golden topazes and emeralds. In gold, white gold and platinum. Mari had gotten dizzy looking at the variety and the sparkle.

Finally, in the estate jewelry, Ethan had found what he was looking for—a collar of white diamonds and Tahitian gray pearls set in white gold. The collar circled her neck, rather than sitting at the base, and fastened with a diamond clasp in back. There was one big baroque pearl that dropped from an ornate diamond bow into the hollow of her throat. A matching bracelet, drop earrings and brooch completed the set, which dated from the late nineteenth century. She had gawped, but the two men had immediately agreed it was right, not only for the dress, but for her. And she had to admit, once she put the necklace and earrings on, they were right. These were beautiful pieces, beautifully crafted, and they were sexy and utterly decadent on her. She looked like some…exotic courtesan, even in her bike gear.

This was all too much for her. She needed a nap. She needed… Her stomach growled. She needed a sandwich. A greasy, chewy grilled cheese sandwich. With fries. Lunch. Screw formal balls, she needed lunch. Like Scarlett O’Hara, she’d worry about the rest tomorrow.

Chapter Twelve

Monday afternoon, Ethan realized he was fiddling with the papers on his desk in a restless manner foreign to him. He knew what his response was about—Mari’s comments on Saturday morning about her time in Florida.