Then another.
Time stretched across space as she decided how truthful she wanted to be, and while I waited to see if I was right all along or not.
“I would have fucked his brains out.” She whispered, still hiding behind her arm.
Those words rolled around in my head, then down to my gut. At first, a flash of jealousy burned like acid as I imagined the two of them in bed like this without me. Before me.
There probably would never have been a ‘me’ in their story if they had gone that route, because deep down in my own heart, I knew they were kind of perfect for each other in a way.
As the initial jealousy stopped burning in my gut, Rhea slowly lowered her arm and looked at me. “Say something.” She begged.
I could tell she was being her most vulnerable self with me, and I desperately wanted to comfort her, showing her that I was a safe space for her thoughts and feelings, even if they were shocking at first.
Slowly, I laid a soft, gentle kiss on her sternum and rested my chin on my hand there, feeling the steady beat of her chest beneath my palm. “I’m glad he never flirted with you, Rhea.” I whispered. “Because if he had, then neither of you would ever have given me a second look.”
She scoffed and wove her fingers in my hair, ready to brush me off to save my own feelings, but I was quicker than her and interrupted.
“But maybe that’s the point of all this.” I replied, holding her cautious stare. “Maybe you both needed me in a way neither of you could see. And that’s why it never happened. Not yet, anyway.”
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“I’m saying,” I dropped my lips to her chest again, turning my head and kissing the inside sensitive flesh of her breast as she stared at me. “That the idea of you and Tanner Brooks flirting, and developing feelings for each other, and dating, and then eventually ending up in bed together,” I shimmied to the side, kissing her breast as I went and flicking my tongue across her nipple. “Makes me green with envy.” I admitted. “But theidea of you and Tanner Brooks, flirting, and developing feelings for each other, and dating, and eventually ending up in bed together, with me included in each of those steps,” I groaned, sucking her nipple into my mouth and making her gasp. “Makes me fucking feral with desire.”
“Marigold.” She growled, swallowing deep when I sucked hard on her nipple. “Fuck.”
“I want you to fully embrace your needs and desires, Rhea.” I stated plainly. “And if that includes the three of us, together, in bed or out of it, then I support that for you. And for me.”
“And if he doesn’t want that?” She whispered, fear lacing each word. Fear of rejection. Fear of her heart not being enough. Fear from her past.
“Then,” I shrugged, kissing my way down her stomach, making the muscles tremble beneath my lips as I pushed her thighs wide and my tongue directly against her wet clit before going back in, slowly, teasing her. “I guess you’re stuck with just little old me. Because I want you.” I sucked her clit into my mouth, making her back arch off the bed and her thighs part further. “God, do I want you, Rhea Dalton.”
“Yes.” She moaned, fisting the blankets as she arched her hips and stared at me. “Promise me.” She whispered again, holding onto her control by a thread as I pushed two fingers into her pussy and sucked her clit again. “Promise me that it will be enough for you to have us separately. Because I don’t know if I can risk it. I don’t know if I can put myself out there to him like that. I’m a hurricane on a good day, and he’s calm and steady and nothing like me.”
Pausing to look at her, I made sure she felt my words as strongly as I did as I said them. “You’re not a hurricane, Rhea. You’re lightning, baby. Sudden. Beautiful. And so fucking unforgettable. And you’re enough.” I said firmly, scissoring my fingers as I held her gaze. Her lips parted as I rolled my tongueover her clit in sync with my thrusts. “You’re perfect just like this. You’re perfect for me.”
“Yes,” She nodded, chest heaving as she gave in, weaving her fingers into my hair and controlling my head as I licked her deeper. “You’re exactly what I need, Goldie. So, fucking right for me.”
“Show me.” I demanded, quickening the thrust of my fingers as I curled them forward and held her pretty dark stare. “Show me just how right I am for you and come on my face. Come for me and prove it.”
“God!” She cried, rolling her hips and riding my face as she neared her orgasm. “That’s it, baby. Don’t stop. Please don’t ever stop.”
I didn’t.
I didn’t stop until her body was finally at rest, matching her mind as she crashed into the center of my bed. And then I did what I’d wanted to do since she showed up on my doorstep hours ago, worried and anxious, splitting herself in two with doubt and fear.
I called Tanner to thank him for sending her to me.
My phone litup in the dark, a quiet vibration rattling against my nightstand like a warning. Or a promise.
Usually, when my phone rang in the middle of the night, it was bad news. Work news. Or something worse.
But as I lifted it and blinked at the screen, I answered on instinct the moment I saw her name. “Goldie?”
“Hi,” she said softly, her voice thick with fatigue. “I’m sorry to wake you.”
“Don’t be,” I replied, my voice hoarse with honesty. “I wasn’t sleeping well, anyway.”
There was a pause, the kind that didn’t feel awkward or forced, but one that wrapped around my chest and squeezed.
