Quatre (7 page)

“I watched you with your girls and I knew I wanted to see that every day of my life.”

She froze, her heart flipping, thudding, and then taking off as the adrenaline kicked in.
What was he saying?

His bright gaze probed hers. “Baby, you’ve become my world.

In a time when I thought I could never again find happiness, you’ve given it back to me. Made me realize I need to stop feeling sorry for 39

Quatre

myself and get out there again. The world didn’t stop because I went to war, and I can’t stop living because of the awful things I’ve experienced. The pain in my leg almost doesn’t exist when I’m with you, because you make me forget. You brought me into the living again.”

“Oh, Danny.” Her heart surged with love for him.

He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers with the scantest pressure. She longed for more, for him to fill the empty space in her universe.

“I’m in love with you, Margot. And damn, I can’t wait to wake up beside you.”

He drove his tongue between her lips with fiery need, taking absolute control of her. The strength he exhibited in every stroke drew her to new heights of passion. She’d had few lovers to compare him to, but he was one of the best kissers. Where Ethan was strong and thorough, Danny’s touch was impassioned. She dug her nails into his broad shoulders and met him stroke for stroke.

A shudder rocked his hard body, and she clung to him, throwing herself headlong into the tide pool of emotion.

His tongue swept her mouth with single-minded purpose as he dragged the knit tank over her head, leaving her full breasts exposed to him. He’d cupped them through her top before, and nuzzled the tips into hard buds, but she’d never been bare before.

Making a low grunt of appreciation, he attached to one with forceful ardor, drawing the tip into his mouth, suckling hard enough that her toes curled. A flood of cream soaked her panties. She knew if she felt between her thighs, the small patch of denim covering her pussy would be wet too.

He explored her collarbone with lapping motions of his tongue, back down to her breasts. When he went lower, licking at her navel until she almost screamed with need, she finally believed this wasn’t going to end. This was just the start of a beautiful, loving relationship.

She gripped the fabric between his shoulder blades and yanked his shirt overhead, discarding it with a swish to the carpet. Skimming each rounded pec, she found the hard nipples set in the centers. A sprinkling of pale brown hair covered his chest, tapering into a perfect V and disappearing into the waistband of his faded jeans.

“Can’t get enough of tasting you. Can’t get enough of kissing you.” He placed nipping bites over the rounded swell of her belly and ran his tongue over the skin above her cutoffs. “I know I won’t get 40

Em Petrova

enough of sinking into you, baby.” His eyes glowed up at her. “I’m so going to fuck you.”

A cry of need burst from her. She sank her teeth into her lower lip as he stripped away her shorts and the pale pink thong she wore.

Then he ruffled the thick curls covering her mound. When she’d met Jane, she’d worn a full bush. Over time, she’d shaved away the hair on her labia and around her clitoris, knowing it must be more pleasing for Jane to eat her pussy. Ethan was wonderfully appreciative of the curls she kept, and she practically preened that Danny seemed to love them too.

“God, I’ve got to taste you.”

With that, he buried his face in her slit, and stabbed his tongue into her dripping folds. Parting them with his forceful tongue, he met her clit. She stiffened, hands curling into fists and thumping his shoulders weakly as he drove her to new heights. Her mouth watered to taste him too, to accept his throbbing head on her tongue and learn every swollen inch.

He slid his hands under her ass and lifted her, drawing her up, and then letting her fall, forcing her to fuck his face. The sensation drove her wild. Sharp, rasping cries exploded from her. Her world narrowed. She forgot about everything but the intense burn in her pussy, of the silken feel of his tongue flickering it.

She burst with a scream of delight. She dragged a gasp of air into her lungs and held it as the pressures uncoiled in her core. While she was still pulsing from her devastating release, he kicked off his jeans and black briefs.

She met his turbulent gaze. Suddenly, she realized he was nude.

The scar marring his hard thigh stood starkly against his flesh. His gaze drilled into her, and his mouth firmed. Was he worried about her reaction to his wound? On him it wasn’t an imperfection as much as a testament to his strength.

The moment welled between them as Margot fought to think of the right thing to do, to say, to make him realize she didn’t give a damn about his injury, but only cared about the act of heroism behind it. If he bore the twisted mass of flesh across his chest or the side of his face, he’d be no less handsome.

She loved him.

Trailing her fingers lightly over the hard pucker of flesh, she gazed deeply into his eyes. “Danny, I need you. Not only your body, 41

Quatre

which is good and strong—stronger than any I’ve encountered. I need your heart and soul.”

He drew a sobbing breath and tipped his forehead against hers, capturing her hand against his scarred thigh. “You’ve got it, darlin’.

You had it from the start.”

In one solid thrust, he drove into her. Speared her. And captured her soul.

The thick length of his rod stretched her, filled her better than any she’d ever known. The experience of their lovemaking was amplified by the emotion they shared.

She spread her legs wider to accommodate his muscled hips, wrapped her heels behind his back, and tipped her hips to meet his thrusts. Each movement hammered another bit of the void in her life shut, until she knew only joy.

As she felt him stiffen, her body responded, shooting up the steep incline of ecstasy. They ruptured together in a haze of passion and sensation.

She gripped him around the shoulders, her legs clutched his waist, and her pussy hugged his cock. Hot spurts of cum bathed her insides, and too late, she realized they hadn’t bothered to use protec-tion. He seemed to realize this at the same moment.

“Oh, God, Margot, I’m sorry. I didn’t think. It’s been years since I’ve been with a woman. I swear—”

She placed her lips atop his. “It’s okay. I’ve seen your chart. And I’m on the pill.”

His chest rumbled with laughter, and then he sobered. Tears stood in his eyes. “You know I want to marry you, don’t you? I want to put that ring on your finger, and give you the house with the picket fence. I want you to be the mother of my children, and care for you and your girls forever.”

She swallowed hard around the sudden lump that leaped into her throat. She could tell him about the Millers now. Bleed out her need to keep them in her life. It was time. And it was really unfair if she didn’t.

Yet the words seemed to stick.

He kissed and nuzzled her for long minutes, and then rolled off and drew her into the wreath of his arms. “I’m in love with you, baby.

Tell me you want all the things I said too.”

“I do.” How to keep the tears out of her voice? Impossible. With Jane and Ethan between them, she had to make things right. “Dan-42

Em Petrova

ny...” She stroked his chest hair softly. “I want to talk to you about something.”

His body tensed, and she almost decided not to speak further.

But she had to bring him into the group. Now that they’d declared their love and shared their bodies, he deserved to stand in the ring of knowledge too.

“For several months I’ve been...with somebody.” Before he could rear up, she grabbed him and held him tighter. “A couple. I started an affair with a woman named Jane. And soon she introduced me into her bed shared with her husband and—”

“Goddamn it, Margot!” He jumped off the bed as if it was aflame.

The dark fury on his face burned into her conscience. Fuck, what had she been thinking? Most people didn’t enjoy threesomes in a lifetime, let alone feel part of a couple the way she did with the Millers. Now she was telling the man she’d just slept with—the man she loved—

that she wasn’t the woman he believed her to be. She wasn’t exclusive.

He jammed a hand through his hair, sending it into spikes. “What the hell is going on? Why are you telling me this now? Fuck, I confessed my love to you a few minutes ago. Gave you my fucking heart, and for what? So you can smash it to bits within seconds of the giving?” He swiped his briefs off the floor and yanked them on, leaning against the bed to slip his injured leg into the hole.

She sat up, shaking and with tears beginning to track down her cheeks. “Please just listen to me. It’s something important in my life.” Violently, he stabbed his legs into his jeans and zipped around his softening erection. His gaze drilled into her. “More important than me. I wasn’t important enough for your honesty. Dammit, Margot, do you think I ever would have slept with you knowing you aren’t only giving your body to me, but to—to a goddamn couple?” His shout splintered her control.

She climbed off the bed, the sheet clutched to her nudity, feeling like the worst human being alive. Why had she believed he would understand? What had made her think she could have that love story while remaining firmly in Jane and Ethan’s bed?

“How long? How long have you been sleeping with them?” She lifted a trembling hand to her face, catching some of her tears.

“I told you. Several months. Jane and I have grown close. Our feelings run deep, Danny. Please understand. We are made to love more than one person. Our hearts are big.”

43

Quatre

“Big enough to use me.” His guttural tone was a knife twist in her gut.Folding around her sobs, she hastily grabbed her clothes off the floor. Through her choking tears, she tried to explain. “I’m sorry. I should have told you before, but I wanted to show you how much I care about you. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Yeah?” He arched one thick brow in disgust. “Well, you have.

Now get out.”

The throbbing,

***

The expanse of mirror at the front of the room reflected the kicking, punching bodies. It reflected Jane’s unhappy expression. But it did not reflect Margot.

Her usual spot in the second row was vacant. A hole in the class.

It was nothing compared to the chasm in Jane’s heart.

Two weeks before, Margot had called and through a tear-filled confession, related what had happened between her and Danny.

And she hadn’t been to see Jane and Ethan since. She absolutely refused to meet for coffee, or to even take some of their phone calls.

Jane knew she was throwing herself into her work, taking extra shifts and spending as much time with her twins as possible to fill up the dead space in her life.

That space weighed heavily on Jane. Heartbreak wasn’t something she should feel at her age, considering she was in a solid and committed relationship. Both of them were aching for Margot. Missing her laughter, the joy she brought to their lives.

Suddenly it was too much. Jane stopped mid-punch, swiped a hand over her sweaty face, and ran out of the class before she could burst into tears. She ran the hallways of the gym to the locker room.

By the time she reached the empty space, she was openly crying.

Throwing herself into a bathroom stall, she sank to the toilet, where she really let loose. Ethan had held her through the worst of these episodes. This time she was on her own, and there was almost a soothing quality to knowing this. She’d gotten them into this mess when she’d fallen for Margot. She’d asked Ethan to open his heart to Margot. Now they were suffering and it was her fault.

Deep down, she knew Margot couldn’t forgive herself for hurting Danny. And Margot all but said if she came to Jane and Ethan, she’d 44

Em Petrova

be tainting them as well. Dammit, the loss was excruciating. Jane felt as if part of her had died.

After long minutes, she tore off a strip of toilet paper, wiped her streaming eyes, and blew her nose. She could sit here and feel miser-able or she could do something about it. Never one to wait on the side-lines for life to spit out the things she wanted, Jane decided she should take action. She’d pursued Margot, and though the other woman had never realized she needed such a relationship in her life, Jane had.

Perhaps the same could be said for Danny.

Quickly, she went into the locker room and dressed in her street clothes. She knew where to find the answers to their situation. If she could persuade Margot’s boyfriend to just hear her out, she might have a chance of bringing him back into Margot’s life. Even if she and Ethan had to live through the heartbreak, she could tolerate it, as long as she knew Margot was happy.

Within five minutes, she was in her car and on her way to Danny’s house. Luckily she’d been told where he lived before his and Margot’s breakup. As she flew down the four-lane highway with as much speed as she dared, she rolled down her window. The warm summer air washed over her face and dried her tears. But the tender caress of the breeze in her hair reminded her too much of Margot, and new tears appeared.

What are you going to say to Danny?
She needed a plan. Marching up to his front door and telling him she wanted him to join the three of them in bed wasn’t likely to go over well. While starting a new relationship was always a little worrisome as well as exciting, this wasn’t a traditional relationship.

Focus only on Margot. He can make her happy. The rest might fall
into place, and if it doesn’t, at least she might feel complete in a one-on-one relationship.

Jane pulled into the short concrete drive of Danny’s suburban home. His tidy bungalow was charming enough. But when she rang the doorbell and was faced by the tall wall of muscle, her body was won over as well. Lurid images of Margot in this man’s arms made the familiar current of need run through her.