If Grey thought he couldn’t feel lower, more contemptible, he had been wrong. He felt the pressure of Heath’s words in his chest, crushing into his heart, and it irked him that he cared. Releasing a tight, broken breath, he turned back to his desk, to the pile of papers he had yet to get to, the million things he wanted to do, one on top of the other, to keep from thinking of her. Of them. Together.
“She made her choice.”
He shuffled the papers on his desk, then rearranged the pens by color. Blacks, blues, reds. “Heath, I’ve got Parsons in Atlanta, but he’s an imbecile with the zoning commission. I need to know your plans.”
Heath gaped at him, then shoved his arms up high.“Toni needs you, and you sit there and talk to me about Parsons?”
“She made her choice!” he snapped. She made her choice, and she chose you. My baby chose you.
“I can’t fucking replace you. I can’t fucking make up for your half, and you can’t fucking make up for mine. She adores you.What is it that you can’t stand—that she loves me, too? That I want to belong to someone, to her?”
He only half listened; his brain was pounding. His temples throbbed and he knew, without a doubt, if Heath did not leave, he was going to lose it. He was on the verge of smashing someone’s head into the window, a hair away from turning back into his ancestral ape and roaring out with pain. He wanted him for breakfast. He wanted his blood.
Searching for the last vestiges of control, he looked Heath directly in the eye and said, “If you ever mention her again—”
“What?” Covering the distance to his desk, Heath dug into his jeans pocket and slammed his palm into Grey’s chest. “Where’s your half ?” Grey’s eyes burned at the sight of red. “Did you tear it up, throw it away?” Heath nabbed Grey’s wrist and forced the sash into his palm, anger making his teeth show. “We waited all. Fucking. Night for you!”
Trancelike, Grey ran three fingertips across the cool fabric, then dropped his face and buried his nose deep inside. Oh, fuck. Her scent clung to the satin like perfume, and he wanted to suffocate in it. He wanted to hear her, see her, touch her. In that instant, while the fruity scent of her feathered across his straining lungs and the sight and texture of the sash made him long to burn in hell rather than stand this, Grey could not summon any anger. Not for Heath. Not for her. It just hurt. Like nothing in his life had ever hurt before.
“What did you do with yours, Grey?” Heath tightly pressed.
It struck him then that the sash was different. Shorter.The edges tattered on one end. One cut end.The bile rose up in his throat, his stomach churning with acid. In his mind, he fit the puzzle together. In his mind, he calculated one plus two and added the three and the four and a thousand other inconsequential inconveniences that alone did not matter but together made a whole.
Setting his face into a stoic mask, he lifted the phone receiver, his voice surprisingly mellow considering the storm brewing inside him. “Miss Fairchild, can I see you for a moment?”
He did not address her as Miss Fairchild often, so naturally when Louisa peered through the doors and stepped inside, her eyes were wide and guilty, and she was pale as a sheet. Oh, she knew. She fucking knew.
Grey signaled at a chair. “Sit down, please.”
She sat.
Anticipating a show, Heath accommodated himself in the nearby sitting area, leaning forward as though not to miss a word. Grey stepped around the desk and came forward, letting the sash flutter to her lap.
“You’ve seen that before?”
Head bent low, Louisa Fairchild wrapped her arms around herself as Grey began to circle her.
“You took it to Heath.” He paused behind her, leaning closer. “What I want to know”—he enunciated each word carefully into her ear—“is where my half is?”
“I-in the glove compartment. In my car.”
“Your car.” He straightened, disarmed by her quick admission. “Good.Very good. Bring it.”
Neither Heath nor Grey communicated during the time it took her to fetch the sash. Heath sat motionless on the couch, while Grey remained rooted to the spot, bloodthirsty for the sight of that red silk, silent, burning, hoping, wishing.
When Louisa reappeared, she handed the sash over with trembling hands. Grey clasped it in his fist, and his heart exploded at the feel of it, his breath tearing out of him in a hiss of bliss and ecstasy.
Mine.
“I didn’t mean any harm,” she burst out in pale- faced anxiety, taking a step forward in appeal, “but Toni was being so unreasonable. You can do so much better. I don’t think anyone, much less you, should settle for those odd terms!”
“That would be my business,” he stated. “And Toni’s. And Heath’s.”
“But I just wanted you to notice there are other women who would have you. Just you. I wanted . . . I just wanted a chance.”
His smile did not reach his eyes. “You know what I want?” he asked placidly, running his knuckles over his desk as he circled his way around it. “Your resignation. On my desk. Tomorrow morning.”
She sucked in a great deal of air, then gripped the back of the chair as she jerked her head up and down in a nod.
Grey pinned her with an admonishing look. “I don’t think you’re a very good friend, Louisa.”
Flushing bright crimson, she stumbled back a step, eager to leave.“I’m not,” she choked, wiping at her eyes before she stormed outside.
As Grey watched her leave, his train of thought barreled forward.
Was he judging himself through the eyes of such people, people like Louisa, because he was different, his girl was different, their relationship was different? What was he afraid of that he would let go of the two people he cared most about in his life, the two people he needed?
She had made it rain for him.
Toni had made it rain, and Grey wanted to crash and burn his plane into the ocean, surround himself with the peace and tumult of her water.
He wanted to break every rule with her, make her every wish come true. He wanted to take the world by storm with Heath and her.This was not a decision for his mind, but his heart.
And his heart said yes.Yes to the sash, yes to her, yes to his partner, his brother, his friend—yes, to hell with everyone but them. Fuck, he was losing it.
Grey admired the sash once more and tucked it tightly into his hand.This.This strange three-way relationship that everyone would frown upon, that would most probably send his father to his grave and make for an interesting discussion at Toni’s parents’ dinner table, felt undeniably . . . right.
“Heathcliff.”
“Yeah?”
He met Heath’s gaze. “Let’s go get our girl.”
Chapter Seventeen
Toni almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the front door. She’d been jittery all morning, and anxious and a hair away from institutionally depressed. Her fingers froze on the keyboard as muffled footsteps approached behind her.There was more than one set coming. . . .
Spurred to her feet, she turned and was arrested by the sight of Heath, smiling a lazy, toe-curling, heartbreaking smile at her. Like a formidable statue, Grey stood beside him, his tie perfectly in place, his sharp black suit sharper than ever, not a hair out of place. And that face . . .
Vaguely, she remembered she was in her sweatpants, without a drop of makeup and with purple bags under her eyes. And Grey looked wonderful. Odious, stubborn, beloved Grey.
They were here. Both of them. Heath was smiling. Grey was not. His eyes were alight with emotion.
Her vibrant red sash hung from his right hand.
A wave of relief flooded her, but with it came a sharp, startling pain.
Hurt and anger churned in her belly. Her eyes filled up, and Grey became a blur. She rounded the desk and began to back away into the kitchen, trying to swallow back tears as she said in breathless shriek, “H-how could you!”
“Toni.”
He started toward her, and she impulsively grabbed the em
pty coffee cup from the corner of the desk and flung it. He ducked and it fell on the runner with a low thunk.
“You jerk.You pigheaded son of a bitch, you’ve put me through hell!”
She changed directions when he almost caught her, still backing away, then grabbed a couch pillow and sent it flying at him. His hand shot out to derail it, and he seized her arms before she could go further, his eyes crinkled, full of laughter. “Come here, darling.”
Her treacherous heart leapt at the fact that he called her darling again, and a sob wrenched her throat as she fought weakly against his grasp. “Don’t you dare laugh at me, don’t you dare!” she screeched. “Y-you say you love me and the s-second you don’t get your way, you’re out the f- fucking door!”
He pulled her to his body, engulfing her in his arms, his voice full of despair as he sifted his fingers through her hair. “Baby.” He captured her lips, not tenderly, but with shattering desperation, his moist, warm mouth everywhere at once—on her eyes, her lips, her cheeks, his hands cradling the back of her head.
“You call that l- love, t-turning your back on the two people who love you most, who love you just as you are, Grey Richards!”
He clutched her face with no finesse, his eyes feverish and reckless as he met her accusing ones. “I was in hell. Oh, baby, you have no idea. I was in hell!” And he kissed her more, his mouth ravenous, opening so wide around hers she felt swallowed whole. When he drew back, his gaze covered every inch of her face and made every bit of it burn from the intensity. “I love you. I have from the first moment and I’ve never stopped. I love you more and more and more.”
More tears sprang into her eyes, one leaking past the corner. He tracked it with his eyes, then caught it with his tongue and groaned. He kissed her hard, a dry, tight kiss on the lips. “We’re home now. We’re not going anywhere. Heath is not going anywhere. Neither am I.”
Nodding, she choked on a part sob, part laugh. “I’m not going anywhere, either.”
He let out a frazzled breath, as though he’d been holding it forever; then his fists were on her track jacket, pulling down the zipper and pushing it off her shoulders as his lips descended with purpose. “Fuck me. Hold me. Love me. Don’t let me go.”
“Oh, Grey, yes, yes.” She busily shrugged off her jacket while their mouths locked, melting together. Grey yanked roughly on his jacket, his tie, his shirt, as though the fabrics were everything they needed to shed so they could once again be one.
When they were bare-chested, she jumped on him and he caught her by the ass, and they were skin to skin, her nipples plastered to his chest, her legs coiling around him as their ravenous mouths slanted and their moans poured out of them.
Desire invaded her in a flood of molten lava as he carried her to the couch, laid her back, and slipped off her sweatpants and panties. “I want you writhing. I want you moaning. I want you screaming Grey.”
Oh, god, yes. Knees folded on the seat, she opened her thighs wide for him. Naked, he lowered himself above her, and she locked her ankles at the small of his back a second before he impaled. She moaned. So did he. He felt huge inside her, sliding his hands under her and lifting her higher to take him.The upward angle of her hips sent the blood rushing to her head then back to her pussy as he started pounding and hitting her walls with every deep, plunging inward stroke.
“Oh, baby . . . oh, god . . .”
He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, his simmering gaze greedily feasted on her. She could feel the jiggle of her breasts, noted the complete exposure of her body to him.
He bent over her, pumping red- hot pleasure into her body, holding her hips in those large, capable hands. He kissed her lips and captured her debilitated sounds with his mouth, their tongues brushing, tangling.
“Say Grey.”
At the unexpected suction of his mouth on her breast, her spine curved into a dramatic arc. “Grey.”
He growled and took the pearl between his teeth, tugging gently, then suckling hard. “I want it on your mouth when you come, Antonia. I want you to never fucking forget it. It’s Grey.”
Yes, yes, yes, and he was hers.
Her orgasm was building, swelling inside her at each slide of his shaft, each pull of his scalding mouth on her nipple. “Grey!” she gasped, the pressure building to a peak. “Heath, don’t leave us.”
“I’m right here, Cat. Right here with you.”
She pried her eyes open and found his rigid, powerful legs beside her. When her eyes traveled up their long, bronzed length, his cock was fully erect above her head, rising up toward the muscled squares of his stomach. His balls looked full and tight and she raised her head and gave them a teasing lick, satisfied when he groaned. “Oh, baby, lick me right there.”
She licked him there again, in that smooth place where both balls met.Then she stroked them gently with her hands on her way up to his cock, and caressed the long length of his shaft with her fingers. “Heath.”
He emitted a husky sound that hitched in his throat, and, encouraged, she lowered her mouth to lick a wet path up his erection. The gleaming, musky rod jerked under her tongue, making her tummy constrict.
Nearly salivating for more, she wrapped one hand around the base and slanted his cock lower to her mouth. She teased her tongue around the head, gently swiping up the creamy moisture, and he made that sound again, the raw, strangled sound of a man in pleasure. Her body felt it vibrate like an electrical surge rising from her core.
She trembled from head to toe, powerless against the insistent throbbing of Grey, slowly, slowly rocking inside her pussy. One of her palms came to rest on Heath’s stomach as she used her mouth and fist to set a rhythm.The muscles in his abs contracted when she sucked him in as deep as she could, until his crown touched her throat and her suctions were milking him fast.
He groaned again, deeper this time, as if farther away. As if lost now. Laboring for breath and thirsty as she’d never been, she used her fist to stroke his length up and down, her hand following the fast motions of her mouth.
“Yes,” he hissed, tangling his hand into her hair as her head started to bob, her mouth frantic. She sensed Grey’s smoldering gaze on them. He was watching Heath’s cock slide in and out of her mouth, wet and rigid and marked with veins.
“Can you take me, Cat?” Heath purred, caressing his fingers through the bun halfway undone in her hair. “You know where I want to be.”
“Please. I need you.”
Grey hauled her up, still inside her, and she waited in excruciating, anticipatory bliss as Heath knelt behind her and positioned himself.
Grey went still as Heath entered, groaning, “Kitten, oh, kitty Cat, you’re tiny.”
“All right?” Grey strained out.
She assented with her head, bit at his shoulder. Grey began plunging. “Toni,” he rasped, his body vibrating with tension. “I needed this.You.”
The men slid in perfect accord, one in, one out, the friction unbearable. “I feel you, Grey,” Heath rasped, even as he nipped at her ear, “I feel your cock against mine. Fuck, I love it.”
Toni made a sound, torn in pleasure, and Grey grabbed at him past her shoulder, growling, “Come here, Heathcliff.” He slammed his mouth against Heath’s and they fucked each other with their tongues.
Tearing away, Grey seized her waist and began moving fast, his every effort now on his hips and the powerful slide of his cock into her snug grip. She was awash with sensations, her every nerve attuned to him and Heath, to bringing them pleasure, to taking the pleasure they gave. Nothing else existed. Grey was sweaty, rippling with tension, and fucking her like mad. Heath was going slowly, carefully, the burning driving her to a fever pitch.
“Yes, yes, oh, god!”
Grey brought one knee up, his leg folded, and angled his hips so he’d graze her clit as he stroked. A shudder racked her, the stimulation delicious, poising her orgasm at the very top of that pearly nub.
She rolled her head and gasped. “I’m almos
t there. God, I’m almost there.”
“Jesus, look at you. I’m crazy about you.” Grey gained momentum, then suddenly he called something to Heath, and he rolled over, bringing her with him. And she was mounting him. So ready to come. Quivering down to her bones. Riding him.
She bit her lip, unable to keep her eyes open, and Heath was adjusting behind her, her ass being stuffed with his flesh, his slab of a chest on her back.The whistle of his breath whispered across the top of her head. Her undone hair now tumbled past her shoulders as she rolled her hips, moving fast, searching for release, that instant of pure, white pleasure.The instant the spasms in her vagina would drain Grey dry inside her, make Heath spill in her.
Grey’s hands fluttered up her stomach and grabbed the globes of her breasts.And his face. Dear god, it was twisted with ecstasy, his eyes sizzling as he watched her.“Ooh!” she cried when he tweaked her nipples, then rolled them between his thumb and forefinger. Her eyes fluttered closed.
“Look at me,Toni.”
She opened her eyes, stared into his as they screamed out his love for her, and her body clutched his in a long, tight orgasm. When she cried out his name, he bucked under her, coming with her name on his lips, too. His head twisted to one side as a tremor racked him.
When her shudders subsided, she fell on him with a gasp of delight. Their chests heaved in unison, and Toni made a humming sound at the amazing sensation of having Heath, still aroused, inside her, waiting.
She disengaged herself and whispered into Grey’s ear, “Touch him, Grey. Touch Heath.”
She wanted to see them together. For Grey to remember how much they’d enjoyed each other’s bodies. For Heath to feel wanted.
And Grey rose, his body glistening with sweat—still primed.
“Heathcliff.”
“Grey.”
They eyed each other like predators, their size alike, their strength alike. Heath was grim-faced. He stood stock-still as Grey began to circle him, his twilight eyes tracking Grey’s every move.
Grey spoke first. “If you want Toni, you get me.”
Heath’s erection was at its fullest length, his muscles flexed as if for a fight. A vein throbbed at his right temple as he answered, “I’ll take you both.”