Reckless Abandon (7 page)

Jordan’s tongue plunged and dominated, the grip of his hand in Marcus’s hair felt strong and sure. Marcus loved the flavor of Jordan on his lips and the sensation of Chastity’s mouth on his cock. His right hand settled on Jordan’s shoulder while his left continued to comb through Chastity’s hair.

Her tears had nearly undone him, and now her glorious mouth made him fly. Jordan moved back, onto his haunches, and watched as Chastity sucked his cock.

Arousal climbed until Marcus felt his heart catch, until he knew orgasm waited just a breath away. “I’m close, Chastity,” he murmured, flexing the fingers in her hair to get her attention. He thought to warn her. He didn’t know if she had any idea what it would be like if he came in her mouth.

Her gaze shifted up until their eyes met. And then she took him deep and sucked hard.

“
Yes
.” The spasms of ejaculation rippled through his entire body as stream after stream of his semen erupted. He couldn’t resist the urge to thrust. Jordan stretched out beside Chastity and braced her, his hand on her head holding her steady. Marcus closed his eyes and focused completely on his own orgasm, on taking every drop of pleasure as he hadn’t done in so long. Usually he met his keenest cravings by giving, rarely by taking. He felt Chastity shuddering and for one moment didn’t care if that reaction had been in protest or pleasure.

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53

But as his ejaculation ceased, her mouth stayed on him, her oral caress easing, until at last she pulled back. The smile she offered him held assurance that she’d enjoyed what they’d done.

She lay back and looked at Jordan.

“Will you taste different?”

“Yes, darling. But you’ll wait a while to find out. You need to rest now.”

Marcus felt his heart melt in response to Jordan’s words. The man he’d fallen in love with had become mellow these last months. He’d seen Chastity’s exhaustion even as he’d encouraged her to taste him.

He knew he’d probably feel guilty about that tomorrow.

“Our master is right, darling. You’ve shadows under your eyes.”

“I didn’t sleep very well last night.” The last word emerged around a yawn.

“You may not sleep
much
tonight,” Jordan whispered as he drew her closer, making room in the bed for Marcus to lie down. “But you’ll sleep well.”

Marcus arranged himself beside Chastity. They had her in the middle, which suited them both just fine. They worked to cover the young woman who had so quickly fallen asleep.

“I want to keep her,” Marcus said. He looked over at Jordan, whose attention focused on Chastity.

The other man met his gaze. “We’ll see what we can work out.” Marcus didn’t fret over Jordan’s lack of commitment. He knew his lover well. Jordan always thought to hold himself back for a bit, until he became absolutely convinced that making a commitment would be safe. Knowing the whole of the man as he did, Marcus couldn’t blame him for it. But because he did know Jordan so well, he knew one very important fact that he doubted Jordan even realized.

The man was already more than halfway in love with Chastity Sawyer.

* * * *

54

Morgan Ashbury

Jordan opened his eyes, completely awake. The soft glow of light from the attached master bath relieved the utter blackness of the night.

He hadn’t awakened to complete darkness since shortly after Marcus had moved in.

The other man must have gotten up and turned the light on after he’d gone to sleep.

Nearly a full year they’d lived together, and Jordan still wasn’t used to the depth of caring and caretaking Marcus held in his soul.

No wonder he’d also been drawn to Chastity.

He looked down. The woman had wrapped herself around him in her sleep. Since they all had fallen asleep naked he could hardly mind.

He ran his hand up and down her back, his caress gentle.

He’d seen her only a handful of times over the last few years and judged her based on his own prejudices. He wasn’t overly proud of that fact. She may have been raised amid wealthy surroundings, but he thought now it would be difficult to decide which of the three of them had suffered the worst childhood.

Those tortured years of their youth had marked them all, changed them and set them on the paths that had eventually brought them together.

And there lay Marcus, sleeping the sleep of the angels, a man who had suffered horrible abuse at the hands of his father, yet now lived to take care of others.

Jordan was the Dom in this relationship, but it wouldn’t surprise him at all to discover that Marcus had chosen Chastity and then done what he could to, well, if not engineer them all into bed this way, at least make this outcome seem more natural.

Chastity stirred. “Jordan.”

His name had emerged on a moan, as if she looked for him from within her haunted dreams. “Shh.” He gathered her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Go back to sleep, baby. I have you.”
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Chastity settled again, and Jordan closed his eyes. It hadn’t taken much, he mused, for his heart to become engaged. Watching Marcus while Chastity had pleasured him had told him the other man was already more than halfway in love with the woman.

That and the sense of contentment that filled him now because she clung to him, and in her sleep had whispered his name, assured him that he felt the exact same way.

Now they just had to get Chastity to fall in love with
them
.

56

Morgan Ashbury

Chastity’s eyes drifted shut a moment after her mouth closed over the fork.

Never in her life had she tasted a more delectable omelet. When she opened her eyes again, she encountered Jordan’s smug smile and Marcus’s pleased expression.

“This is
wonderful
.” The words seemed inadequate, but Marcus’s smile grew huge.

“His lasagna will bring tears of gratitude to your eyes,” Jordan confided.

“You could open a small café in the back of your bookstore. My God, Marcus, people from all over the city would line up to eat there!”

“You and Jordan—like minds. I love my bookstore just as it is, thank you very much. I’m more than content to cook only for the people I care about.”

She felt her face heat, because he looked right at her when he said that.

She’d never passed a night like last night. Never imagined having a lover on such short acquaintance, let alone two in the same night.

She’d known Marcus and Jordan as a couple, and had thought nothing of it, really. So discovering she got turned on watching them kiss just begged the question of what watching them make love would do to her.

What the three of them had shared last night didn’t feel like casual sex, but Chastity had no idea how to characterize it.

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57

She’d never before realized she needed to label things.

“What’s on your agenda today?” Marcus asked her.

He wasn’t wearing his collar this morning. Dressed in business casual, his button-front shirt and pressed trousers made him look like a professor. His dark hair showed streaks of grey at the temples.

When he smiled, his face evolved from handsome to beautiful.

What would that smile feel like against my pussy?

Chastity’s face heated as that wild and uncharacteristic thought lodged in her mind. She ducked her head in embarrassment, but not before she noticed the unspoken communication between the men.

She returned her attention to Marcus’s question. It was Friday, but during the week her schedule never varied. “I have to go in to the office today. And I really should, because I didn’t yesterday.”

“Would you mind if I accompany you?” Jordan asked.

How polite he sounded! Wasn’t he supposed to be her master?

Chastity guessed her unasked question must have showed in her eyes.

“Accepting me as your master doesn’t expunge all your rights to self-determination, sweetheart. Although I do know some people who live the lifestyle that way, that’s not how we do it.”

“I feel stupid.” Chastity didn’t like not knowing the details. She prided herself on her intelligence, and her ability to assimilate knowledge.

“Quit it. You’re not stupid, just uninformed. One of the reasons I want to accompany you is so we can spend some time talking.”

“We all start somewhere, baby,” Marcus added.

Chastity let her gaze rest for a moment on her breakfast. She wanted more of what these two men had to offer. She’d been pampered and cared for last night in a way that had fed some very deeply buried needs.

She looked at Jordan. “Yes, I’d be pleased for you to accompany me. I’m just hoping you won’t be bored.” The smile he gave her then did strange things to her belly.

“Trust me, darling. You don’t bore me.”
58

Morgan Ashbury

* * * *

Jordan found himself in the position of having to take back his opinion that Chastity did nothing but pretend to work.

The first thing he noticed when he followed her inside her office was the stack of file folders in the center of her desk.

“What is that?”

“Grant applications. There are a lot of organizations and people who apply every year to receive funds from the Sawyer Trust. One of my main jobs is to sift through the applications and select the ones most worthy.”

“You should have people cull out the nut cases and pass you on the rest.”

“I do. This is today’s—and yesterday’s—offerings.”

“Good God.” There had to be fifty file folders stacked on her desk.

“My great-grandfather Sawyer began the trust in honor of my great-grandmother, who died at the age of forty. My great-uncle Wilfred held this position until I took over. He died last year. There’s always been a Sawyer in the director’s chair, even though it’s not just Sawyer money anymore. We hold an annual fundraiser, and other donors entrust us with their funds as well.” Her office was spacious, no doubt about it. The furnishings looked trendy and seemed comfortable. And looking at her sitting behind that big desk, Jordan understood something very basic about Chastity Sawyer.

She hated her job.

A young woman brought in a tray of coffee and set it on the low table by the sofa. Chastity didn’t quite sigh in relief when she got up from behind her desk, but he thought she wanted to.

When she sat beside him, he asked, “What would you rather be doing?”

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“I wanted to teach learning-disabled children.” The words came instantly but what caught Jordan’s attention was the way her face lit up with her answer.

“And you didn’t because your grandmother wanted you to take this position, instead.”

“Yes.”

Jordan never used to be a tactile man. Eleven months with Marcus had changed him. Without thinking he took Chastity’s hand, and twined their fingers.

“You can do or be whatever you want, sweetheart. You don’t need to live the rest of your life doing what your grandmother wants you to do.”

Before she could answer, the door to her office opened, without a knock.

“Chastity, I tried to reach you last night—Who the hell are you?” The man looked soft, a pampered Little Lord Fauntleroy who’d never done a hard day’s work in his life. Well aware of his basic prejudice against the trust-fund class, Jordan still didn’t think his assessment of this newcomer was much off the mark.

Chastity jerked. Jordan kept her hand in his and gave her a squeeze of encouragement. He felt her stiffen, and noted the polite mask that slid into place on her face.
That
was the look that had convinced him she’d been a snob.

“Jordan, this is Blake Clayton.”

“The former fiancé,” Jordan said.

“Former? Hardly. Gertrude called me, Chastity. A courtesy you failed to extend yourself. I don’t know who has been spreading rumors about me, but I can assure you that they’re false. I’m really quite insulted and frankly very disappointed that you would even listen to gossip, much less believe it. Whoever saw me and Ms.

Carver having coffee in the Royal Marquise hotel the day before yesterday certainly mistook a perfectly innocent—”

“Bullshit.”

60

Morgan Ashbury

Jordan could see Chastity’s response shocked Clayton. He didn’t bother to restrain his smile.

Then Chastity turned and touched Jordan’s arm. “Did you know that Blake’s cock does delicious things to Miranda? But then she’s his sexy little honey pot, and he’s going to need to drink from her just to keep sane while he’s married to me. Isn’t that right, Blakey-pooh?” The man actually paled. Jordan didn’t feel the least sorry for him.

Chastity turned her attention back to Clayton. “In case it hasn’t yet sunk in, I didn’t listen to gossip. I listened to
you
—you and your bimbo. I am
not
going to marry you, Blake. You’re going to have to find someone else to—now, how did you put it? Ah, yes, open doors and give you a cachet you wouldn’t otherwise be able to claim. Even if you only planned on being stuck with me four years, max.”

“Gertrude assured me the engagement still stands.”

“Then, as I suggested to her when she said the same thing to me, you can marry
her
. As you can see, I don’t have your ring with me.

I’ll mail it to you. I believe you know the way out.”

“I’ll talk to you later, when you’re alone. After you’ve had some time to calm down, I’m sure you’ll see the advantage of continuing on with our plans. In the meantime, you can be certain I’ll report your behavior, and your apparent assignation here, to Gertrude.” Jordan waited until the door closed before he gently pulled Chastity into his arms. “Well done, sweetheart. He was the other reason I came with you today. I had a feeling he’d come to see you. ”

“I thought I’d feel more hurt when I faced him. Instead, I got pissed off.”

“That’s because you weren’t in love with him.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

Jordan continued to hold her, stroking her back and enjoying the way she burrowed into him. She’d done that in her sleep, too. The idea came to him then that Chastity was as needy emotionally as he had been when he first got together with Marcus.