Gratitude.Desire. Awe.
Linus sets a bottle of water on the nightstand. He’s already undone his tie, sleeves rolled up. His eyes find mine across the room. Then slide to her.
“Look at you.” He rakes his eyes over her body.
She turns, the green satin hugging every curve, a slit revealing the soft swell of her thigh. No shapewear. No pretense. Only her. Real, lush, glowing.
My mouth goes dry.
“We haven’t been alone in months.” She looks around in wonder. “Really alone.”
I cross the room and kiss her before I answer. Her lips are warm, her breath sweet. When I pull away, her eyes are glassy.
“I miss the girls, but this is nice.” I stroke her cheek.
She nods. “It is. Thank God for your parents looking after them.”
Linus steps behind her, slides his fingers beneath the dress. Peels it down like he’s unwrapping something sacred. When it pools at her feet, she stands there in nothing but the necklace we gave her when the girls were born.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he says.
Her chest rises.
Linus kisses her shoulder. I kneel in front of her, kiss the inside of her thigh. She threads one hand through my hair, the other reaches blindly for Liam.
The bed behind us is already turned down. She crawls onto it without a word, sprawled across the sheets.
Linus undresses, eyes never leaving her. I follow.
We take our time.
My lips trace the faint stretch marks along her hips. Linus kisses the curve of her breast, then her throat. Her hands reach for both of us, pulling us in.
“Let me taste you,” Iwhisper.
She opens her legs for me. I lower my mouth to her while Linus strokes her nipples until she cries out. Her body rises to meet me. She’s soaked. Sweet. Ready.
“I need to be filled,” she breathes. “Please. Both of you.”
Linus meets my eyes. There’s no hesitation.
He spreads her open to watch me slide inside her. She moans, wraps her arms around my neck. Linus moves behind her, strokes her spine as he lines up his cock with her ass.
“Tell me you want this,” he says.
“Ineedit.”
Her body accepts him and we begin to move in rhythm. One after the other. Her name in both our mouths. She shatters between us. Her nails rake my back. Her cries echo in my throat. We keep at it, until I can’t hold back. I grip her hips and spill. Linus follows with a growl, pulsing inside her as he kisses the back of her neck.
When we’re done, we collapse on either side of her. She’s boneless. Glowing. Her thighs still sticky with all we gave her.
No one speaks for a while.
She turns her face into the pillow.
“I love you both so much,” she says sleepily.
We say it back.
