Sanctuary (New Reality Series, Book One) (5 page)

“Oh, this is plenty, and such a treat.” She tapped her finger against her bottom lip. “Let’s save the potatoes for tomorrow since they’ll take a while to cook, and the fish is already done. How about the beans? They’ll heat up quickly and will taste much better than the reconstituted ones. And we’ll have the peaches for dessert.” She shifted her gaze between the men, brows lifted in question.

“Sounds perfect.”Noah pulled his pocket knife from his pocket and grabbed the can of beans to open. “Did you run into any trouble?” he asked Ethan as he set the beans on the edge of the fire to heat.

“Nah, place was deserted. Didn’t see a soul.”

“Good.” Before Noah could say anything else, Grace stood abruptly.

“I’m just going to go clean up before we eat.”

As he watched her rush away, he sighed. Apparently the excitement over the food and comfortableness they’d shared minutes before was gone, and awkwardness had usurped its place. Just perfect.

“Stop worrying,” Ethan rested his hand on Noah’s and squeezed.

“I don’t want to scare her away,” he admitted. “If we haven’t already.”

“We haven’t,” Ethan said confidently. “Confused, intrigued, oh yeah, but she’s not running scared. Open this.” He handed Noah a can. “Our girl wants peaches.”

Several minutes later, the trio was finishing up their meal. Ethan leaned against a large rock with his legs stretched out in front of him. Grace, sitting between the men, held the can of peaches beneath her chin as she slid a bit of fruit in her mouth. Noah shifted to ease the pressure on his throbbing cock. Which didn’t help at all.

She licked the juice from her lips. “Are you sure you guys don’t want anymore? I’m being a bit greedy, but they are so good.”

Noah opened his mouth to speak and lost the ability as she chose that moment to dip her finger in the can then in her mouth.

Ethan chuckled. “Oh no, sweetheart. We’re stuffed, and are getting plenty of pleasure watching you enjoy them.”

Grace froze at the darkly sexy tone. Noah held his breath as he waited for her response. Ethan, on the other hand, looked completely relaxed as he continued to stare at her. Grace set the can down next to her and clasped her hands together in her lap.

After a heavy sigh, she spoke. “I think I need to apologize for earlier.”

Noah shook his head. “I already told you it’s okay, Gracie.”

“But it isn’t,” she insisted. “We’ve become friends, right? Friends don’t come between…couples.”

“That’s not what you did,” Ethan said quietly.

“But I—”

“Didn’t do anything I didn’t want,” Noah finished for her.

Her eyes widened. “But…”

“Sweetheart, enough of the buts already.” Ethan bent his knees and, leaning forward, draped his arms over them. “All you did was give Noah what he’d been wanting. Well, maybe not
everything
he wanted. And I damn sure didn’t kiss you because I was upset.” He held her gaze. “I wanted to know what you tasted like.”

“But you’re gay!” she blurted loudly then slapped a hand over her mouth.

Ethan shrugged. “Yeah, mostly.”

She dropped her hand. “Mostly? What does that even mean?”

“I’m bi,” he said simply.

“We both are,” Noah added. “And we’re attracted to you. Very attracted.”

“And we want to explore that. A lot,” Ethan added.

“Explore?” she parroted. “You mean, you, Noah, me…”

“Uh huh,” Ethan affirmed with a salacious grin.

Grace shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around what was actually happening. It was one thing to fantasize about being with two guys…two very hot guys…and quite another to be told it could be so much more than a dream spun to forget there wasn’t a warm body sharing the bed.

“You want to be with me.”

“Yes,” Noah replied.

“Both of you.”

“Yes,” he repeated, drawing the one syllable out.

“Together.”

“Y—”

“Fuck yeah,” Ethan interjected.

“But,” she flew out a long breath, “the two of you are…a couple.”

“We are, but we both happen to think you’re sexy as hell, and we got to wondering,” Noah lowered his voice slightly, “what would you feel like between us? What kind of noises would you make when we both filled you? It’s enough to drive a man crazy, wondering like that.”

Grace stared into his eyes and struggled to pull a breath in. He couldn’t know the effect his words had on her. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Or maybe he did.

“But,” Noah continued, “regardless of the attraction we feel, we won’t pressure you. Either way, we continue on until you get to your family safely.”

“I don’t—I don’t even know how to respond…” she trailed off, cheeks burning, her mind a whirlwind of possibilities.

“You can invite us into your bed or decide not to,” he said. “The choice is yours, plain and simple.”

A laugh bubbled up and burst from Grace’s lips. “God, this is anything but ‘plain and simple’.”

“It really is, though,” Ethan contradicted, reaching over and running his rough fingertips down Grace’s bare arm.

Grace tried to suppress the tremor the teasing caress elicited. After giving her hand a quick squeeze, he leaned back against the large rock, his gaze locked with hers.

“Sweetheart, the choice is yours,” he repeated his partner’s words. “Share a bed with us, and the nights just got a whole lot funner. Sleep alone, and we continue on as we have been the last couple days of the trip. No harm, no foul. Now,” he grinned playfully, “if you asked me what I
wanted
you to choose—”

“No pressure,” Noah reminded dryly.

“Right, no pressure.” Ethan held his hands up with a soft laugh.

“And whatever you choose,” Noah leaned forward, “we’ll be fine with it, Grace. Promise.”

Biting her bottom lip, she shifted her gaze to Ethan, whose mouth was still turned up in a sexy smile. He took his finger and crisscrossed it over his chest. “Cross our hearts.”

Grace stood quickly and rubbed her palms on her thighs. “I need a minute.”

Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and headed to the river. Callie followed her until they came to the water’s edge then started chasing bugs, splashing in the shallows. Grace scrubbed her hands over her face and tried to calm her thoughts.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t tempted. What woman didn’t fantasize about two men loving her thoroughly? But it wasn’t simple, not as Ethan claimed it was. Giving in to that temptation would just complicate an already complicated situation? And it wasn’t just the fantasy that tantalized. It was the men specifically. Both of them so very much. She closed her eyes and pressed her thighs together. Noah and Ethan. She pictured them in her mind and smiled. She’d learned to trust these men to a degree, more than she had anyone in a long, long time. But, soon, the corners of her mouth turned downward. Although they’d gotten along—bonded even—these past few days, she still kept things from them. A part of her wanted to tell them everything. Share what had happened to her, explain where she was going, clear up the misconceptions. What would they think of her then? When they knew she’d kept things from them; hell, she’d out and out lied to them. For good reason, she reminded herself. While she knew that, Grace didn’t know if she could take that step. Trust them with everything.

And could she be with them, take them inside her body—she moaned softly—with the lies between them?

“Aren’t you the romantic fool?” she whispered.

It wasn’t about what they told each other. It was physical, pure and simple. There was an attraction, a strong one, between the three of them. Would it really be so bad to indulge in it? After all, they would be going their separate ways soon. Ethan and Noah would still have each other and the love they obviously shared. What would she have? She’d be on her own. Again. Most likely for the rest of her life, however long that ended up being. Was it really so bad, so unthinkable, to give in and be with these two incredible men? To have something amazing to remember when she was lying alone in her bed?

She opened her eyes and turned back toward camp. Callie bounded after her in response to her low whistle. Her stomach fluttered nervously as she made her way through the brush. She stopped next to the small tent and stared at the men. Sitting next to the fire, the flames casting shadows on their beautiful faces. Their hands were linked between them, and they spoke to each other in hushed voices. Grace’s breath caught in her throat as she watched Ethan reach up and cup Noah’s cheek. He drew his lover in for a long, languid kiss, and Grace felt her clit throb as the men’s tongues stroked and tangled together. Watching, she ran her own tongue over her lips and yearned for the feel of their mouths on hers again, for their taste to explode in her mouth until she could think of nothing but them.

That’s what Grace wanted. She could see it clearly now. Their touch, their scent, their flavor, their
everything
drowning out all the crap that surrounded them.

“You just gonna stand there, sweetheart?”

Pulled back to the present by Ethan’s drawl, Grace realized the men had pulled apart and both of them had their gazes focused intently on her.

She inhaled deeply and cursed as she began to tremble. “I’m going to bed,” she stated, cringing as her voice echoed in the night.

Noah nodded, his expression sympathetic and understanding. “Good night, Gracie.”

“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not what I… I think we should all go to bed,” she said pointedly then turned toward the tent before they could see her embarrassment.

After unzipping the tent flap, she kicked her shoes off and climbed in. And waited.

Chapter Three

Ethan looked at Noah and found his partner smiling widely.

“Well then,” Noah said. “Let’s go to bed.”

He unfolded his lanky form and stood, holding a hand out to Ethan and pulling him to his feet.

“She’s nervous,” Noah pointed out beneath his breath.

“You think?” Ethan squeezed his fingers a moment. “It’s our job to make her forget about all that.”

Hand in hand, they strode to the tent. Ethan pulled his gun from his waistband, double checked the safely before climbing in after Noah. He tucked the weapon next to where their packs rested just inside. He knew Callie would sound the alarm, as it were, if anyone or anything approached the camp, but he still wanted the firearm within easy reach. Zipping the flap, he bit back a smile when the dog whined a moment before flopping to the ground blocking the entrance.

“Good girl,” he murmured.

Turning on his knees, he sent up a prayer of thanks for the moonlight. While darkness had descended, he could make out the two forms stretched out on the sleeping bag. Good ol’ Noah was murmuring sweet nothings and rubbing Grace’s back slowly, soothingly. Ethan shifted in the small space until he lay behind her.

He pressed his lips just beneath Grace’s ear. “Relax, sweetheart. We’re going to make you feel so good.”

“I d-d-don’t think r-relaxing is in the cards tonight,” she stammered good-naturedly.

He chuckled and slid his tongue over her soft skin. “All right then, we’ll save the relaxing for after. Right now, just enjoy.”

“Sit up a minute,” Noah told her.

When she obeyed, he pulled her tank top over her head and tossed it aside.

“Now, lay down, baby.”

Ethan’s cock responded to the arousal in his lover’s voice, the huskiness almost a physical caress. When she was on her back, Noah’s hand came up and cupped the back of Ethan’s neck. As he lowered his own, Noah pulled Ethan’s head down. Ethan immediately parted his lips to suck one of Grace’s pert nipples into his mouth, knowing Noah was doing the same.

“Oh God,” Grace gasped. “God, that feels so good.”

Ethan hummed against her, nipped the taut flesh, drawing another cry from her lips. Releasing the nub, he trailed his mouth over the soft mound until his cheek brushed Noah’s. The rasp of whiskers sent a jolt straight to his cock. He ran his palm up Grace’s side to cup her breast. He rolled the slick nipple between his thumb and forefinger, tweaked and pulled as he turned his face toward Noah. He pressed a kiss to the stubbled cheek.

“Hey baby,” Noah murmured, moving to meet Ethan’s mouth with his.

“Hey,” Ethan returned against firm lips.

Then, it was all sleek heat clouding his mind as their tongues parried and thrust. Noah’s flavor danced in his mouth and pulled a groan from deep in his chest. A softer feminine moan halted their movements. Ethan looked down at the woman beneath them.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered, lifting her hands to cup each of their faces.

Ethan chuckled at the light pressure trying to push their heads back together. He turned and bussed the palm of her hand, followed it with a quick swipe of his tongue.

“Hey, Noah,” he whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Get your fucking clothes off already,” Ethan ordered, then reached for the button to Grace’s jeans.

The sounds of Noah fumbling to disrobe filled the tent as Ethan undid her pants. He leaned down and rubbed his lips over Grace’s.

“Lift your hips.”

She acquiesced, and he slid the garment over her hips and off her body, taking her panties along with it. Running his palms up the outsides of her legs, he returned to kiss her. Just as he was gliding his tongue along the seam of her lips to gain entrance, he felt Noah’s breath drift over his ear.

“Your turn.” Noah nipped his lobe sharply.

He thought of protesting but the desire to be skin to skin with his man and Grace overrode everything. Noah claimed her mouth as soon as Ethan pulled away. Cursing under his breath, he tried to maneuver in the tiny tent. Finally—God, finally!—he removed the last garment and could turn his attention back to his lovers.

Noah was fucking her mouth with his talented tongue, pulling soft moans from the woman beneath him. Grace’s hands clasped the back of his head—to keep him right where he was, Ethan guessed. He bent forward and nudged Noah’s side with his head. Noah took the hint and scooted just enough so Ethan could reach Grace’s pert breast. He didn’t dick around, he just pulled the tight crown in his mouth and sucked hard.