Their release was quick and unfettered. Neither held anything back, shouting with abandon without a care as to who might hear.
As it turned out, someone did overhear them. Two someones, to be exact. As Sabrina lay cradled in Conner’s arms, her arm and leg draped across his chest, William and Oliver cautiously entered the room, as if they were afraid to break the fragile connection that’d been made tonight.
“We heard a…uh…commotion.” William cleared his throat. “Then it got quiet and we thought…ya know…maybe someone had died.”
“Murdered, I think your words were,” Oliver supplied, a small, amused smile twitching to life.
“Yes, that. So, are you two okay? Does anyone need mouth-to-mouth? Or mouth-to-pussy? I’m not picky. Just here to serve.” William had that cheeky look about him again, and Sabrina turned her face into Conner’s chest and snickered.
“Come on in, brothers,” Conner welcomed them. Then, with a loudsmack, his hand landed on her bare behind. “The water’s fine.”
Sabrina let out aneep!of surprise, then smacked Conner’s chest as William and Oliver stepped out of their own clothes and climbed into bed to join them.
In no time, she was surrounded by men. Her men, she mused as she reached down to slip her fingers between William’s questing hand that coasted along her round hip. He curled in behind her, and they got cozy, each of them resting comfortably in silence.
It wasn’t long before the struggles of all they’d experienced at her presumptuous hand dragged them into a light slumber, and Sabrina herself had never slept so well.
Chapter Twenty
“I want to take you to lunch.”
“Breakfast is barely over and you’re already thinking about food again?” Sabrina chuckled as she loaded the dishwasher. The guys had made her French toast and for them a side of eggs and bacon to go with it. She couldn’t pack away nearly as much food as they apparently could, but she’d enjoyed watching them eat it. It also made her a touch jealous because there was no way in hell she could consume that many calories in one sitting without it going straight to her thighs.
“Then dinner.” Conner was insistent. He wanted to take her out, to show her off. Sabrina was still on the fence. She wanted those things, of course, but she couldn’t help considering his brothers in the equation. Where did they fit? How did they all fittogether? It seemed like someone was always going to get left out.
Sabrina busied herself with the dishes and then wiping the already clean counters, not sure how to answer him.
Conner approached and stood waiting on the opposite side of the counter. “’Brina, I want to take you out. We haven’t been out since that farce of a dinner date with the old man, what’s his name?”
“Mr. Thomas,” she supplied, thinking back on the night fondly. Although Henry was an old codger with a tendency toward sexist, he was kind and, at times, sweet. At least with her.
“Right. Well, that was business. I want to do something with you that’s purely pleasurable.”
She flashed him a coy smile and a heated and altogether suggestive look. For the better half of two days, they’d spent all of their time between the sheets, making up for lost time and hurt feelings. Sabrina’s body was so worn out, she was surprised she didn’t have callouses between her thighs instead of bruising from being ridden so hard.
There was still the question of William and Oliver that she was concerned about though.
Casting her gaze toward the living room not twenty feet away where they sat watching TV and trading pages of the morning newspaper, she lowered her voice. “What about your brothers?”
Sure, they’d shared showers and cuddled in front of the tube to watch movies together, one-on-one, over the weekend, but was it enough?
Conner’s eyebrows pinched together. “What about them?”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “We’re supposed to be an us, right?” He nodded and she continued. “Then how is that supposed to happen when we’re always doing everything separate?” Maybe she was making this all more complicated than it had to be.
“I thought you didn’t want to out that there’s an ‘us’ right now? We agreed that it wouldn’t be beneficial for people to find out that we’re together. I know the world is supposedly more accepting of unconventional relationships now, but polyamorous relationships still turn more heads and cause more friction than, say, homosexual ones,” Conner argued. “I don’t see how we can get around that if we venture out as a unit.”
“Maybe not right now…” Sabrina trailed off, knowing he was right and that she was also right to be concerned. Still, she couldn’t deny how unfair it was that they had to hide and keep secrets just to be together. It didn’t bode well for any relationship, and theirs was more challenging than most.
“Later, if this lasts,” Conner said as he extended a comforting hand across the cool marble and held hers, “we’ll take that leap. But right now, this is all too new to take risks for either side. It’s better if we play it cool and see how it all plays out.”
Sabrina couldn’t help feeling stung by his words. To her, it made it seem dirty, what they were doing. It made it feel like Conner wanted to hide his connection to her, as if he were ashamed. She knew, logically, that was absurd, since he was the one who announced wanting to take her out into the world and have her on his arm. But the little thread of insecurity inside of her had been poked, and it was hard to ignore.
“We want you, ‘Brina. Don’t ever doubt that.” Conner’s earnest words came at exactly the right time, as if he knew what she’d been thinking. “If all of this works out, if it looks like it’s heading into serious territory, then trust that there isn’t a thing my brothers and I wouldn’t do to protect what’s ours.”
Staring deeply into his eyes, Sabrina found that she believed Conner. And a quick glance at William and Oliver only reinforced it. They must have overheard a piece of the conversation, because they were looking over their shoulders at them, and they wore the same earnest expression as Conner.That settled it, Sabrina thought fiercely. She wasn’t going to continue feeding the doubts. She was going to enjoy the moment instead, and rest secure in the knowledge that she had three handsome men by her side who wanted to be with her, who cared enough about her to swim against the current and take a chance.
And, therefore, she was willing to do the same.