Slowly, very slowly, we come back to earth.
I’m shaking. The thing is, it’s not pain but simply a higher level of bliss than my body can metabolize, and I’m humming with it.
North strokes my inner thighs. “Breathe,” he murmurs. “In. Out. Good girl. You did so well, and we’ve got you.”
Luca unleashes a sound behind me that is part strangled and part disbelieving. “What the fuck was that?”
I’m laughing at his response, forgetting that he was getting the full-blown effect by being inside me.
“What?” Ace asks, appearing perplexed.
“Welcome to the wonderland of North’s double knot,” I say with a smirk his way.
“North, warn a man. Jesus Christ.”
“So, you didn’t know about the second knot?” I manage, wrapped in his arms as I still lie on top of him.
“I knew he had one, but I had no fucking idea what itactuallydid.” He groans. “Jesus, North, your dick doesthat?”
North looks extremely pleased with himself, chuckling. “Clearly.”
Ace lifts his head, confused. “What are we talking about? What did his double knot do?”
He stares over at Ace. “It’s like fucking a volcano.”
Ace blinks.
I burst out laughing, while North is smiling like he’s just won the lottery.
“What the fuck?” Ace blurts out.
“North’s second knot is a volcano, Ace.”
I’m laughing so hard now that I’m shaking around both of them, which is doing nothing for their situations.
“Stop,” Luca wheezes. “Stop laughing, Adelaide. Stop moving,fuck?—”
Ace is staring between Luca and North with the aggrieved expression of a man who’s just learned that the rest of his friends went to a concert without him. “I want to experience this.”
“It’s all yours,” Luca whispers in my ear, and I turn my head toward him, winking, loving that he wants to try it out.
North eases himself forward slowly, carefully, keeping us joined, and lowers himself down onto the mattress on his side. Luca rolls us toward him, his arm looped tightly around my waist to keep us all aligned and together, until I’m cradled between them. North in front. Luca behind.
Ace swipes all the pillows off the top of the bed with his forearm, a whole messy avalanche tumbling to the floor, and stretches out in the space on his side. He props himself up on one elbow, and his free hand comes straight to my hair, combing through the damp strands, pushing them off my temple.
“So,” he says like a guy making conversation at a dinner party. “Not sure how I feel about missing out on the volcano.”
“Next time, you and me on the volcano ride,” I say to Luca, while North is kissing my neck, my cheek.
“So glad I can bring you all the entertainment.” He’s chuckling against me, one arm under his head, the corner of his mouth lifting as his thumb traces along my lower lip.
A heavy sleepiness starts creeping through me all at once, dragging at my limbs until even lifting my head feels like too much. I yawn against North’s chest, and that seems to amuse all three of them.
“Sleep, gorgeous,” Ace murmurs, still lazily stroking my hair. “Rest up for round two.”
I make a soft protest that doesn’t even form into words.
North’s hand slides slowly up my side. “Sleep,” he whispers. “We’re not going anywhere.”
