More Than Ever (More Book 3) Read online

  I shook my head. “Told you. You gotta stop teasing him.”

  “Yeah. When the fuck will I learn that?” He sucked in a deep breath but made no move away from the wall.

  I got up and went to him. Standing before him, I said nothing. Just licked my lips, teasing him by keeping my lips parted as I ran my tongue over them again. “Is there something you need, Luke?”

  “Touch me.”

  Taking a single step forward, I softly ran the tip of my index finger over the front of his pants, slowly, tantalizingly tracing the bulge of his hard cock. He jerked his hips forward, seeking out more pressure. I shook my head, then dropped my hand and stepped back. “Can’t get distracted. We’ve got a surprise coming.”

  I took my seat again.

  He stood there for another few seconds, taking shallow, uneven breaths. When he’d composed himself, he returned to sit beside me. “You know you do that teasing thing as good as he does.”

  I arched a brow his way. “Do I? Huh.” I struggled to keep a straight face. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You should. No one’s ever got me worked up the way you two do.”

  “And no one else ever will again.” I met his gaze once more, feeling confident in a way I hadn’t in months. “Don’t you forget that.”

  “Never.”

  Despite my confidence, I searched his eyes, trying to read if there were any doubts behind that one word.

  Before either of us could say anything more, Richard came back into the room. He didn’t appear to have anything with him, and he didn’t take a seat. “Close your eyes.”

  We did. No smart-ass remarks from Luke this time.

  “Okay. Take a look.”

  The first thing I saw was the huge grin on Richard’s face. He was beaming.

  On the table before us sat a single sheet of paper: a printed web page from a real estate site. Pictures and information about a house for sale. A two-story blue Cape Cod–style home with white trim and white shutters.

  “What’s this?” Luke asked. “You want us to buy that house?”

  “Well, maybe not this specific one, but yeah, I’d like us to talk about getting a new place, something we all pick out together. I thought showing you what I was thinking would be a fun way to bring up the topic. We could take a drive there and see it tonight. I met with a real estate agent and told her the basics of what we’d need and a price range, and she suggested this one and a dozen others that all have pretty much the same space we have now. Unless you think we need something bigger.” He asked me, “Are you going to be bringing a lot of stray animals home that you’ll need to nurse back to health?”

  I shook my head, utterly speechless. He wanted us to live somewhere else? The blue house in the pictures seemed nice enough. It had a flower-lined walkway bursting with the striking purple of English lavender. The path led from the front sidewalk to a substantial porch that had a swing, and the house had a series of interesting peaks that I found charming. The exterior was a combination of stone and brilliant blue siding that I also liked.

  But it wasn’t our house.

  Richard still stood across the table, the tips of his fingers tapping his thighs at his sides, excitement radiating off him. This was important to him. I gave him a tentative smile.

  Luke was examining the various pictures of the house’s interior. “It’s nice. I’ll miss the basement bedroom, though.”

  “Huh.” Richard glanced toward the basement doorway on the other side of the kitchen. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  I had. It was where we had some of our most meaningful moments, in and out of bed.

  “If we want,” Richard added, “we can add a playroom to the basement in whatever house we buy.”

  Luke lifted his head. “I’d like that.” They held the stare for a moment, but when Luke focused on the paper again, there was a slight sadness to his expression. Was that about the bedroom in our basement? Or was he anxious about the idea of moving? I waited for him to bring up whatever was on his mind.

  He didn’t.

  Or maybe I was reading him wrong. He continued surveying the bullet points that highlighted the house’s features, nodding as if he liked what he read about the new place.

  Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “I don’t want to move!”

  Richard stood motionless for a beat, eyeing me with surprise. Then he pulled out the chair on his side of the table and sat across from us. He didn’t say anything. Just calmly, silently sat there and waited for me to go on.

  I bit my lower lip and tried to assemble the jumble of thoughts into a coherent string of words. I didn’t want to hurt him or keep him from doing something that was this important to him. I knew part of the reason he wanted to buy a new house. We weren’t there when he’d bought the townhouse, and that bothered him. He wanted the place where we lived to feel like it was ours too. We’d already told him it did, but if this was going to be one of those things that would eat away at him, then I wanted to do whatever necessary to make him feel at ease. After everything we’d gone through, maybe he needed a fresh start. I just wasn’t sure how different he needed things to be.

  “Matthew?” He was looking at my hands where they were clasped together on the table, one thumb rubbing the back of the other.

  I tried for a deep breath and unfolded my hands. The words came tumbling out, only not the ones of support I’d intended. “You’re trying too hard.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said you’re putting the past behind you, but you’re still trying to make up for stuff that you don’t need to worry about. You still feel bad about what happened to Luke and me at the Harrison estate. You blame yourself because we were in danger, so you’re trying to fix things by buying us a house. You said you’d let it go, but you’re not.” I wasn’t only referring to what had happened at the Harrison estate, and we both knew it.

  He nodded. Was he agreeing with me or just trying to tell me he heard and understood me?

  “I love where we live,” I said. “And it’s not like we need more space or anything. We each have an extra room, plus the basement. And—” I forced myself to stop. I hated the incensed sound of my voice. It wasn’t me. I didn’t talk like this to the people I cared about.

  That was what my father did.

  Richard searched my eyes. “What?”

  More calmly I said, “This house is special.” I shook my head. I needed to stop this. I was being overly sentimental, but I couldn’t keep the rest from spilling out. “It’s where we had our first date, where we got to know each other, where you asked us to move in, where Luke told us about his past, where we—” I shook my head again before the tears could start. What the hell was wrong with me? Was this really about a house?

  With sudden urgency, Richard got up. He grabbed the back of the chair he’d been sitting in and dragged it around the table to sit beside me. Moving in close, he cupped a hand over my nape. “Where we fell in love.”

  I nodded. “It’s not just where we live. It means something to me.” I glanced at Luke, and I knew I’d been right. “For Luke too.”

  He offered a nod in agreement.

  “You’re right,” Richard said. “This place is special. It always will be. But I want the home where we spend our lives together to be a place we all have a say in. Together.”

  “It doesn’t matter to me that I wasn’t here when you bought it. This is still my home. Our home.”

  He gave me a considering look. “The idea of moving really bothers you this much?”

  I gestured to the printout of the blue house. “That place looks great, really, but when I think about moving, I just get really sad. Even if it’s something you want, something that’s important to you, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s not the right move for us.”

  He gave a nod. “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Then we won’t move.” He looked toward Luke on my other side.

  “Sounds good t
o me.”

  “All right.” Richard smiled. “Then it’s settled.”

  “Just like that?” I asked.

  “Yep. Just like that.”

  “You were so excited about this.”

  “Because I thought it would be something fun we could do together. It isn’t a good idea unless we all want the same thing.”

  “That doesn’t sound right. We’re not always going to want exactly the same thing.”

  “That’s true. But with the big stuff, I think we all need to agree.” He caressed the back of my neck. “I wanted to do this because I felt bad that you weren’t here when I bought this house. But that’s all it was. Nothing about feeling guilty or anything else. I was just worried you guys might feel like this place was more mine than yours. If that’s not true for either of you, then I won’t let it bother me anymore. I’m letting go of my guilt.” He ran his palm along my cheek. “I am.”

  I reached up and laid my hand over his, leaning into his touch. “I know that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  “I think everything that’s happened lately has shaken your confidence.”

  I let go of him. “No.”

  “It has, and I hate that. I hate that I was a part of that. I want to help you get back to where you were headed before that night we fought. You told Luke he needed to talk to us, but you need to also. You have to tell us what you’re feeling so we can help. Don’t hold back because you’re embarrassed or you think something shouldn’t bother you.”

  “I’m trying not to.”

  “Good.” He stroked my cheek again, with his thumb this time. “I want you to have everything you want out of life, everything that makes you happy. But more than anything, I want to be a part of that happiness.”

  “I want that too,” Luke added, sounding both full of misery and fear, like he was afraid of the same thing I’d been lately, that he’d somehow broken us.

  I tried to show him with a single look all that I felt for him. “You are. Don’t you guys get that? Being with you two, it makes me feel strong and brave in a way I’ve never felt before. Having your support is the most amazing feeling.”

  Luke leaned in and offered a long, chaste kiss. Then Richard slid in closer and kissed me too.

  When we separated, he said, “It is amazing.” He tugged me out of my seat and onto him so I was straddling his lap. He kissed me again, his large hands cupping my ass, holding me close, and I felt the truth in his touch almost more than his words.

  “It is amazing,” Luke echoed after a brief moment watching our embrace.

  Without letting go of each other, Richard and I turned our heads his way.

  “You know,” Richard said, “you’re back to doing that thing where you just repeat everything we say.”

  “Am I? Really? Huh.” Luke sounded genuinely surprised.

  “And we’re going to keep calling you on it. Aren’t we, Matthew?”

  “Yep.” I held Richard’s face in my hands, turning his head toward me. No matter how much I loved teasing Luke, I needed something else right then. I pulled Richard in for another kiss. I didn’t hold back. And neither did he. The kiss was sensual and explosive all at once, his wet, warm tongue sliding over mine again and again as he hauled me closer.

  When Luke spoke again, his voice was rough with need. “You always think you’re the one in charge, big guy. But really? It’s Matthew. He’s got us wrapped around his little finger.”

  Did I?

  Richard drew me even closer. “Yeah, he does. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Maybe they were right. In a way. Maybe I was the real reason things had been so strained between us. Because I’d been timid, holding back more than them, and that had thrown everything out of whack for us.

  I leaned forward, grasping the top of the chair behind Richard in both hands. I rocked my body over his lap as I whispered in his ear. “I know what you want, and it has nothing to do with buying a new house.” I ground down over him again, feeling the swell of his cock through his dress pants. “You know what I want too.” Another tantalizing rock of my hips. “And you’re going to give it to me. You and Luke. Right now.”

  His breath caught.

  When I sat back, he glided his hands around to my front, up my chest, brushing my nipples through my T-shirt with his thumbs, then taking a path down my body, lower and lower. Confidently, assuredly, he tore open the front of my jeans.

  He glanced at Luke.

  Without a word exchanged between them, Luke inched his chair closer and slid a hand inside my pants. He cupped my cock through my underwear, rubbing it sensually at first, then mercilessly. I thrust up into the touch in no time. Richard kissed me again, almost matching the movement of his tongue with each swipe of Luke’s strokes along my aching dick.

  Then all at once, Richard pulled back. He shot Luke another look.

  As if that communicated everything, Luke got out of the chair and dropped to his knees beside us. Without moving my underwear out of the way, he took the head of my cock into his mouth.

  How the hell had they gotten so good at that silent communication thing? Or was it lust-filled instinct driving them on?

  The thin fabric of my underwear was no match for that hot, wet mouth. I groaned, begged, pleaded for more.

  And Luke gave it to me, his saliva and my precum leaving a growing wet patch on my briefs. Inside me a swell was building. Surging, rising, trying to find its crest.

  Luke let go of me and sat back on his ass. His lips were wet. His chest rose and fell with each deep breath that surged out of him. “I want you guys to give me a show.”

  Richard ran his thumb over Luke’s lower lip. “You got it.” He bent down and kissed him, all moist lips and slow swipes of tongue against tongue.

  Luke stood before the kiss had ended. “Come on.” He hauled me up, then Richard next.

  “Yeah,” Richard said. “Upstairs. Bed. Now.” He took my hand and then Luke’s and led us into the hall.

  Before we made it to the steps, as if he couldn’t wait another second, Luke tugged me tight against him. His hands at my lower back, he brought our lips together. I groaned and clawed at the dress shirt covering his upper arms, trying to drag him even closer. I couldn’t get enough of him. My body was on fire, alive with an energy I hadn’t felt in months. I swayed under the wave of desire, but that was okay. He had me.

  When we parted for air, Luke leaned sideways and whispered something in Richard’s ear. I couldn’t hear what he said, but Richard nodded as Luke let go of me and took a step back. Richard undid the top two buttons on his dress shirt, along with his cuffs, then drew the entire shirt off over his head in one motion. God, he looked amazing. All sculpted muscular flesh, a light dusting of blond hair on his broad chest. He came forward, an almost predatory look in his eyes, and kissed me again. That same powerful, passionate, consuming kiss as in the kitchen.

  But I wanted more. So much more.

  I backed him toward the base of the stairs until I had him flattened to the wall. He stared down at me with such intense desire I thought I might lose it from that look alone. Then he grabbed my ass, lifting me off my feet. With my legs wrapped around him, he spun us so my back was against the wall. His lips found the skin below my ear. He nibbled and licked and stroked my flesh with his tongue as his body ground against my heavy, full cock again and again.

  I arched into him, giving him more to rub against. That had him groaning in my ear. “Fuck, Matthew. Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

  “Oh God. Do you have any idea what I want you to do to me?”

  Richard grunted in response, his hips slamming against me faster. “Bed. Now.” He held on to me and started for the stairs.

  I tipped my head back and laughed. It wasn’t often he became nearly incoherent. I heard Luke laughing too. He stood close, enjoying the show Richard had promised him.

  Richard carried me up four steps but then stumbled on the next.

  “Careful
,” Luke said with a grunt. “I don’t want to spend the night in the ER.”

  “Fuck it.” Richard stopped and laid me down on the stairs. He knelt before me and scrambled to get my still-open pants down.

  I laughed again. God, it felt so good to be like this with them. I reached out and grasped his shoulders.

  He started working my jeans past my hips. I had to let go of him so I could prop myself on the step above and lift my ass up. When the pants were at my thighs, he gave up on them and cupped my bulge through my underwear, massaging my cock, stroking and teasing me until I could barely stand it.

  Apparently he was teasing himself too. He groaned again. “I want this. It’s mine.”

  “It’s yours. All of me is yours. You know that, right?”

  He nodded.

  “And Luke’s,” I added in a rush.

  “Yeah. Luke’s too.”

  Luke snorted out a laugh. “As long as we all remember that, then we’ll never have an issue.”

  Richard turned toward where Luke leaned against the hall wall, watching us through the banister rails. “That has never been an issue.”

  And I loved that. Richard hated the thought of sharing us with other men, but he didn’t have any issues with Luke and I being just as important to each other as he was to us.

  “Do you know…” I had to stop and catch my breath.

  He kept jerking me off through my underwear, his focus now locked on my face. “Do I know what?”

  “We wouldn’t be here without you. You’re the one who—” I groaned and arched into his touch again. “Fuck, that feels so good.”

  His hand stilled. “I’m the one who what?”

  “Kept us together in the beginning.”

  The lust-filled expression on his face shifted to something far more heartfelt. “I’ve never regretted that I was so pushy.”