Stealing the Bride Read online

  The afternoon air grew more oppressive with each passing minute. The air seemed to drip with humidity, and as the sky darkened, Mara was convinced they’d soon be battered by a storm rivalling the turmoil roiling inside her. She hurried back to camp, knowing she’d be drenched if she didn’t beat the rain.

  Her walk hadn’t solved a thing. For every argument against Jacob and Daniel’s proposition, her body returned with two “why nots”. They were right. She wasn’t as committed to Marco as she should be. That was why she’d taken this trip. Though it was late in the game and she should have been sure about her decision before now, she needed to get her head on straight before she walked down the aisle. A week before she’d hightailed it out of town, panic had set in. Marriage wasn’t disposable as far as she was concerned. She had to be sure before she said “I do”. Was she ready for a lifetime of scheduled Wednesday night sex?

  Not really. In fact, the more she thought about her future, the more she freaked out. Comparing it to her reactions to Jacob and Daniel was the acid test. Being with them, even if it was temporary, didn’t send bolts of terror through her.

  Why was marriage scaring her? The permanence? That was the very thing she wanted most. Marco represented that and stability. Her roommates represented lifestyles of scattered instability. Honestly, how stable could an actor and an internet blogger be? Not as steady as an international banker like Marco.

  As she re-entered the site, both men sat under the gazebo-like canopy, each immersed in work they’d brought with them and looking remarkably fresh despite the wilting heat.

  See they’re hard workers, her traitorous body pointed out. She didn’t want to notice that. It was easier to cling to ‘no’ when she pictured them as the opposite of what she wanted.

  To one side, Daniel scribbled in a notebook, his bare feet resting on the canvas seat between Jacob’s spread thighs while Jacob slouched in the chair and flipped through a script. Gusts of wind from the incoming storm ruffled the pages he studied, but he didn’t seem to notice. It was awfully convenient for him that his show had just finished its off-Broadway run and had made the coup of securing an on-Broadway run so he had a bit of time between the two to come torment her. Why the script, then? she wondered.

  Before she could question it aloud, the sky seemed to open and sheets of rain pounded to the earth, the sound deafening as it pummelled the wood roof of the shelter. The wind pushed the downpour sideways. It sprayed Jacob and Daniel and spattered across the picnic table where she’d rested earlier. The men leapt to their feet.

  “In the tent!” Daniel yelled, his voice barely audible above the rain. He and Jacob each grabbed their folding canvas chairs and headed to the tent for shelter. Jacob shoved her inside ahead of them. In seconds, all three were out of the rain, and Daniel was securing the flaps against the driving winds. Jacob flicked on her battery-powered lantern.

  The enclosure was large with plenty of room for the three of them. The men opened their chairs to one side, set down their papers then, having been soaked on the sprint to shelter, stripped off their shirts. Two wide, bare chests. Four nicely muscled arms. Two sets of hands going to the waistbands that fastened over two hard bellies. The hands froze, and she glanced up to find both men watching her with fire in their eyes. Intent. Clear. Unveiled. Devouring her.

  Mara shivered despite the heat of the day. Goose bumps rose on her arms but had nothing to do with the clammy clothing sticking to her. A fight raged inside her as burning arousal rolled through her veins, torching her earlier resolve and turning it to ashes. They wanted her, she only had to say yes.

  With a shaky breath, she turned away from the alluring sight. Her hand pressed to her middle and the jumping sensation there.

  The sight that met her didn’t calm her nerves.

  They’d been busy while she’d been gone. The two camp beds were pushed together, making one, and a sturdy air mattress had been laid over the top. A haven made for three. Unbidden a vision of the three of them together on it blinded her.

  “Give us a chance,” Daniel said, his words a low rumble that sent another round of trembling through her.

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand why you want me. You could have any woman. I’m plain and…” She trailed off. She couldn’t say ‘fat’. Not to them. “Chubby,” she finally said.

  Her chin wobbled, but she didn’t try to hide. She looked up at them just in time to see a shock Jacob couldn’t feign. Daniel looked equally surprised.

  “Who sold you that pile of shit?” he demanded. “Marco? I’ll kill him.”

  She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about what she knew was true. It was humiliating to point out her flaws. Earlier, she’d been too horrified and shocked by their appearance to acknowledge her insecurities. Now, seeing their near-naked perfection…

  She was an average girl for an average guy. So why were they eating her up with their eyes?

  “I love your curves,” Jacob said. “Finally feeling them against me earlier…” He let out a sigh. “Wonderful.”

  “I want to feel them against me again,” Daniel enjoined. His tongue darted rapidly along his bottom lip, so fast Mara wasn’t sure he even realized he did it. He grinned. “I want to taste them, all salty from the heat.”

  “And sweet with pure Mara,” Jacob added. “I want to trace every cute freckle.”

  She bit her bottom lip, staring at them as the rain beat on the canvas overhead and the wind tore at the sturdy walls of the military-style tent. As the storm outside grew more and more violent, the calm inside Mara grew—the calm she’d sought when she’d gone soul-searching on this solitary retreat. Oh God…it couldn’t be. Jacob and Daniel? Not Marco?

  Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to be in bed with these two men, finding comfort as the thunder raged outside, finding herself as the tempest inside her disappeared.

  Looking from one to the other of them, she took a deep breath and slowly raised her arms.

  Chapter Two

  Jacob released a pent up breath at the look of submission and acceptance in Mara’s eyes. As an actor, he’d watched people to train himself in their mannerisms and understand their minds. He’d learned to read people. Mara wanted Daniel and him. She had reservations, but she was ignoring her worries and confusion. It was a start. Before the end of her retreat, she’d know for sure that she should be with them. Them. Not Marco.

  Both he and Daniel stepped close to her. All four of their hands slipped beneath her T-shirt, gliding over her smooth skin, slowly pushing up her shirt as they explored. Goose bumps sprouted along her skin as they touched her, and he knew she enjoyed their fingers inching over her.

  Forgetting about removing her shirt, he slid the fingers of one hand beneath the band of her bra. Mara whimpered as he cupped her breast. Gently, he grasped the nipple and rolled it as he leaned forward and kissed her neck. Her pulse thundered beneath his lips. He suckled at it as her head fell backward on her shoulders.

  He pulled his other hand free of her shirt and cradled her head in his palm. Angling her head, he captured her mouth. Immediately, he thrust inside to taste her sweetness. Mara lifted into him and met his kiss with a wildness he hadn’t expected but found completely delightful.

  “Perfect,” he heard Daniel murmur as he felt his partner pull slightly away from them and move behind Mara. A moment later, Jacob felt Daniel’s hands working at the closure of Mara’s shorts. The backs of Daniel’s hands bumped repeatedly against Jacob’s groin as he moved. Since Mara was shorter, he knew the touch was intentional. His blood simmered as he imagined having the best of both worlds—both Daniel and Mara in his bed. Both loving him. Both belonging to him.

  But for how long? his inner voice taunted. He shoved away the thought as he focused on his lovers. There was no way they’d come with him when he confessed his new job on the other side of the country.

  He broke away from Mara’s mouth to drag in a shuddering breath as he fought the sadness welling inside him. H
e’d work it out. He wouldn’t lose them. He couldn’t.

  But that included winning over Mara. He claimed her lips again, knowing she wouldn’t forgive him if she chose them over Marco, then he, Jacob, left. She made a small keening sound and curled her fingers into his chest, and he was lost again. All thoughts of probable outcomes slid away, and it was only their three bodies moving together.

  Wildly, he shoved up her shirt, tearing his mouth away again, only long enough to pull off the garment and toss it to the cement floor. Blindly, he worked at her bra.

  Daniel’s hands grazed his thighs as he pulled down her shorts. Jacob felt her step out of them. He heard Daniel move again, then suddenly, he was there tugging at Jacob’s pants.

  Finally unhooking Mara’s bra, Jacob stepped backward and took in her succulent body. Chubby? Hardly. She was beautiful, all woman from her full breasts to her flared hips and lush thighs. Strands of her glossy hair had escaped her braid and now curled around her face.

  “She’s beautiful,” Daniel murmured to Jacob as he nipped at Jacob’s bare shoulder. Daniel’s naked body pressed into Jacob’s back, his hard cock fitting against Jacob’s ass.

  “Botticelli’s Venus,” Jacob answered, thinking her face could have been a model for the subject of the painting. Jacob shuddered as desire for Mara twined with desire for Daniel. His rigid cock throbbed with the need for them both.

  Mara glanced down, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

  “Don’t know that one,” Daniel replied. His fingers wrapped around Jacob’s erection. “Just know she’s smashing hot.”

  The pink stain crept down her neck and into her chest. She stared at Daniel’s hand working Jacob’s cock. Jacob held out a hand.

  “Come here,” he beckoned as thunder drowned out his words. It didn’t seem to matter. In the surreal enclosure of the tent, battered by the wind and rain, they seemed to understand each other without the words. Mara came to him, and he pulled her tight to his body even as Daniel released his cock.

  “On the bed,” Daniel suggested, nipping the juncture of Jacob’s neck and shoulder.

  Without hesitation, Jacob lifted Mara into his arms and walked around the makeshift bed, settling her in the middle. Daniel grabbed his arm and yanked him back before he could climb onto the mattress beside her. Lifting Jacob’s chin with a crooked finger, Daniel looked into his eyes with a gaze that seemed to swirl with emotions.

  “I love you,” he said then pressed his lips to Jacob’s, parting them with his own. His tongue thrust inside, claiming Jacob’s mouth as if to say, No matter how this goes, you’ll always be mine.

  Arousal coursed through Jacob even stronger than before, and his blood seemed to pound through his veins as excitement overwhelmed him. They’d waited so long for the right woman…a woman who would love them both, who they could both love, and who would let them love each other as well.

  He smiled as Daniel pulled away. It was time to claim their woman.

  Mara caught her breath as she watched Daniel kiss Jacob. God, they were gorgeous together. As remarkable as it seemed, she’d never seen them kiss. They seemed to keep such intimacies to themselves behind closed doors. Sure, she saw the smouldering glances and the occasional touches, but this…this sizzling connection, the purely erotic soul-bonding visible when they kissed, sent electricity forking through her belly.

  Her pussy tingled as she observed them. She needed to be touched. She needed to touch. As she watched them kiss, her hand snaked over her middle and down to the springy curls that hid her drenched folds. Her air shuddered from her as she slipped a finger inside to glide over her throbbing clit.

  Pushing her head back into the camp pillow at the top of the bed, she closed her eyes and flexed her finger over her rigid nub. The open sleeping bag beneath her slid sensuously along her limbs heightening her arousal.

  She moaned as warmth enfolded both her nipples and her hand was eased away from her pussy. Each man clasped one of her wrists and held them away from her body as they suckled at her breasts. Pleasure streaked from their mouths to her womb to evoke a slick flood to her folds. She cried out, yanking futilely at her wrists as each man pushed a finger over her clit, stroking from front to back but never entering her. She writhed against them. She needed more. She needed to be filled. She needed to touch them, to give them the bliss they gave her.

  They wouldn’t allow it regardless of how much she yanked and begged and cried out. They seemed intent on torturing her into a body-racking orgasm as they drew her nipples deep into their mouths and continually worked over her slit. Her legs bent, and her heels pushed into the air mattress as she sought their penetration.

  Finally, finally, two fingers slid deep inside her, and the mouths left her breasts.

  “Yes,” she breathed, grateful that she could touch them when they finally released her wrists. She bit her lip, her hands spreading on the warm flesh over her. Fingers stretched her and filled her with the utmost pleasure. In a daze, she realized it was one man who touched her. She opened her eyes to see them kneeling over her, Daniel’s hand to Jacob’s mouth as Jacob sucked her essence from his lover’s fingers. Daniel leaned forward and kissed Jacob passionately, but Jacob’s strokes into her channel never slowed. Their cocks touched over her body.

  Pulling Daniel’s hip, she tugged him toward her. He fell over her on all fours with a chuckle that evaporated as she wrapped her lips around his arousal.

  “Oh God, Mara! Yes,” he moaned.

  She worked her mouth over him, vaguely aware of Jacob on all fours beside him. Jacob spread her pussy and sucked her clit between his lips, sending a rocket through her limbs. She screamed around Daniel’s cock, startled by the sublime sensation. Anxiously, she worked up and down Daniel’s staff while Jacob continued to thrust into her with fingers and tongue.

  Daniel jerked.

  Her release stampeded toward her while gusts of the wind battered the tent and thunder crashed around them. Insistent tendrils edged out from her womb, ready for her imminent explosion.

  She clamped down tight on Daniel, one hand fondling his balls while the other clasped the base of his cock. She wasn’t orgasming alone. He groaned, jerking again in her mouth. This time hot seed splattered down her throat. Her body arched beneath the men as her own release pounded through her more powerfully than anything she’d ever felt. Daniel pulled free, spraying her neck and chest with the last of his cum, and she screamed as spasms continued through her.

  Daniel collapsed beside her, and Jacob shifted between her thighs, shoving her legs farther apart with his knees. Leaning over her, he lapped his lover’s cum from her as his cock prodded her entrance.

  He seemed in no hurry to enter her as he teased his arousal up and down her needy folds.

  “Please, Jacob,” she begged. If she didn’t have him inside her soon, she’d…fling him over on the mattress and have her way with him. Maybe she should do that anyway. As if sensing her inner aggression, he lifted his head and grinned down at her.

  “So pretty and all ours,” he growled.

  “Yes,” she whispered and shoved away a niggling that hinted that it wasn’t quite true.

  Jacob slid forward, and she forgot everything as exquisite sensation slipped over her, inch by perfect, thick inch. She gazed up at her friend, this beautiful, wonderful man and was overwhelmed by the complete peace encircling her even as her body cried for more of him, more of Daniel.

  Daniel smoothed her hair from her forehead, kissing her face and neck. His hand trailed over her perspiration slicked body and played over her undulating belly as she moved with Jacob.

  “I like watching him fuck you,” he whispered. He nipped her earlobe. “Doesn’t he feel great?”

  “Yes,” she gasped. Her fingers clenched the sleeping bag as she closed her eyes and surrendered to the sensation of two men loving her at once. Aside from their earlier kisses, their every move, their every touch was for her. She felt them everywhere as four hands traveled her body along with Dan
iel’s mouth trailing over her shoulder and neck, and Jacob’s cock relentlessly pounding in her. Her mind detached and seemed to bob along a nebulous ether that allowed nothing but the tide of fantastic pleasure rising within her. It washed closer and closer with each drive, and she heard wrenching sobs as she twisted in orgasmic ecstasy beneath her two lovers.

  “Yeah, baby, squeeze my cock,” Jacob urged. “So tight…”

  Reaching between them, he scraped his thumb over her clit, and she launched into a miasma of release, myriad colors swirling dizzily past her vision. Over and over, it seemed to pulse its life through her then all too soon it ended. Wrung dry of energy, she collapsed backward onto the mattress and lay there limply as Jacob panted beside her, and Daniel grinned a very self-satisfied grin.

  “That was awesome,” he said.

  “If you blog about it, I’ll kill you,” she threatened, though at the moment she doubted she could move.

  “Aw, sweetie, I really would, ‘cept you know I only blog about politicians. You planning to run for office?”

  “I don’t think I could run, walk or even crawl right now.”

  Jacob nipped her shoulder. “Good,” he said as he pulled her flush to his body and Daniel cuddled in close. “Stay right here.”

  She yawned, exhausted and completely comfortable despite the steamy heat enveloping them. The storm had diminished to a dull, thunking drizzle against the canvas overhead. The sound quickly lulled her toward sleep within the four most perfect arms in the world.

  She smiled. In the center of the bed. In the center of this trio. This centering thing might just be working.

  * * * *

  Her limbs were like rubber. And the heat was melting her. As good as it felt to be between Daniel and Jacob, she couldn’t stand laying there a second longer and sticking to them. Carefully, disengaging her skin and wishing again they were at home in their air-conditioned apartment where they could lay entwined for hours, she scooted off the end of the makeshift bed.