Page 11

Chapter Nine

Ruby

I crack one eyelid open to a dim bedroom, warmth cradling me from behind.

Dean. It must be Dean, because Cameron is sprawled out, asleep, in the chair on the other side of the room in a pair of boxer shorts.

A gorgeous, messy-haired prince in repose, while the king breathes deeply behind me, a possessive hand high on my outer thigh, my naked backside snug to his sticky lap.

I’m not sure if I’ve been asleep for hours or minutes, so dense was my loss of consciousness, but I don’t feel as though I’ve gotten too much rest. In fact, I’m exhausted…but in an exhilarated, naughty kind of way.

A smile paints itself onto my mouth as snippets of my lovemaking session with Dean come back to me.

How unfettered and wild I felt beneath him, his sex so thick and throbbing, his lust sharper than barbed wire, all for me, all for the little girl act that slipped over me like a second skin.

This persona that comes so naturally to me can work for Cameron and Dean…

for different reasons. There’s something here.

Something magical I never expected and it’s taking shape, moment by moment.

They probably don’t even realize what’s happening.

To be fair, they’ve been a little distracted.

With a silent laugh, I scoot out of bed and pad out to the kitchen, topless in my rumpled plaid skirt and knee-high socks, stretching and yawning as I go.

It takes me a few minutes to track down my phone, but when I do, I check the time—1:15 am—and decide to check in with Polly and Molly in a three-way text.

I weigh the phone in my hand before I start to type, hesitating.

Because for the first time since arriving at the house, I’m feeling…

guilty. Before I agreed to do this, the women assured me a million times that there was no reason to feel an ounce of guilt for sleeping with their husbands.

After all, it was their idea! They condoned it. However…

I think I underestimated the feelings I still have for Cameron and Dean.

Feelings I developed as a freshman in college, when we all got so close.

Did I ever truly let go of them?

I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been unwittingly carrying a secret torch all this time.

In fact, I never could explain the need to move to California, away from the Northeast. Now I’m wondering if I did it to avoid the married men I accidentally fell in love with at eighteen.

There’s no avoiding them now. I don’t want to, either.

Hence, the guilt.

Swallowing hard, I text Polly and Molly, surprised when they respond.

Ruby: Hey there. Just checking in. Dean won the contest. LOL.

Polly: Aw! Proud wife moment.

Molly: Can’t believe I married such a loser. Just kidding!

Ruby: Hahaha

Polly: But I’m sure there were no losers tonight, right, Ruby?

No , I want to say. But it’s more complicated than that. Because me and Cameron haven’t actually had sex yet, the way the wives would assume. He’s only watched me and Dean, able to bring himself to completion by witnessing me please my Daddy.

My Daddy?

When did I start thinking of him as mine?

Feeling a little winded, I start typing but stop again. Telling Polly and Molly about the circular kink we’ve accidentally stumbled into feels wrong. Like I’m betraying a confidence. A secret that should only be between me, Cameron and Dean. Is that…bad?

Ruby: No losers indeed.

Molly: Good. Are they starting to play nice with each other?

Ruby: Starting to. Yes. They’re speaking without arguing.

Polly: That’s great news. Keep up the good work!

Molly: I knew this would pan out.

Ruby: Any instructions for tomorrow?

Polly: Yeah. Make them take you on a date! You deserve it after all the hard work!

Molly: Wear that itty-bitty, pink corset dress. It’ll look insane on you.

Polly: Don’t forget the white heels.

Ruby: A date it is. I’ll check in tomorrow!

I plug my phone into the charger and head for the bathroom, taking a long soak in the tub to ease my sore muscles, washing my hair, shaving my legs right before getting out.

Then I lotion myself all over, quietly dry my hair in waves and creep back into Dean’s room.

But I don’t leave Cameron in the chair by himself.

I wake him up and beckon for him to follow me.

Then I settle into sleep, clean and naked, wedged in between two very different men, both of whom I suspect I’ve needed for six long years.

What on earth am I going to do about that?

Dean

I wake up to Cameron’s stupid face nestled into a pillow not two feet from mine—and it instantly pisses me the hell off.

Especially because I was expecting to find a certain blonde looking back at me.

Jackknifing in bed, I shout for said blonde, a little panicked that she’s not here.

Did she leave? Was I too rough with her last night?

“Ruby!” I bellow, lunging out of bed, only pausing for a moment to put on a pair of boxer briefs, before continuing out into the kitchen. “ Ruby .”

“Dude,” Cameron gripes. “Some of us were still sleeping.”

“I didn’t sign up to sleep in the same bed with you.”

“I didn’t sign up for it, either, but that’s where Ruby was.” He sits up in bed, scrubbing at his hair with a jerky movement. “Therefore, that’s where I wanted to be.”

“Seemed pretty content to watch from the corner last night.”

To my surprise, color deepens along his cheekbones. “Well, I’m not going to be content with that today. You’re not going to have her all to yourself.”

“Watch me.”

“Your gatekeeping Ruby wasn’t the plan.”

“The plan?” I scoff, pacing away and rounding on him again. “The plan itself is fucking crazy. Three days with the girl who we never got out from under our skin? Did they really think this was going to be a good idea? Like I’m just going to go home and be able to stop thinking about her?”

Cameron is massaging the middle of his forehead. “I know what you mean. I can’t see how this isn’t going to make life…impossible. It’ll be like getting kicked out of heaven.”

“She’s fun, non-judgmental, smart. Exciting.

Beautiful beyond description. And you haven’t even had her yet, pal.

She’s…” I grind a fist against my mouth until I taste blood, an imagine of her glistening pink slit emblazoned on my brain.

How she said I want to be the one who shares this bed with you while she rode her slickness up and down my pole.

God, I’m never going to get over last night.

“A man commits murder for pussy like that.”

“I’m going to judge that for myself.”

We face off for a long moment, before Cameron launches out of the bed, following me into the kitchen. Ruby isn’t there, though. No, she’s outside.

We walk side by side to the sliding glass door, staring down at the beach transfixed.

Ruby is down on the sand in a sunny yellow thong bikini, flying a kite.

Running up and down the sand with a radiant smile on her face…

and attracting quite an audience as she frolics in the surf, seemingly without a care in the world.

Every balcony of every house, as far as I can see, holds at least one man watching the show behind a pair of shades, probably getting ready to go jerk off.

“Let’s get her inside,” Cameron says.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Because Ruby might not belong to Cameron, but she sure as shit doesn’t belong to anyone else, either. We storm the beach, approaching her from opposite sides. Cameron takes the kite out of her hands, I put her in her usual place, draped face down over my shoulder. “Guys! I was enjoying that!”

“Enjoy it with some fucking pants on, baby,” I gripe. “Unless one of us is with you.”

“I don’t need permission to fly a kite!”

I’m going to love informing her of the opposite.

And I do. As soon as we’re inside the living room, I draw her down off my shoulder, pleased when she hooks her thighs around my hips, as though it’s a natural reflex.

She’s pouting, but the irritation flees her features when I press her up against the glass.

“What was that about not needing permission, little girl? There’s an army of men out there ogling an ass that belongs to us. ”

Cameron steps inside just as the slip happens, dammit.

I meant to say belongs to me, but…I’m not sure what happened.

Now, the three of pause, exchanging glances.

“I think we should talk,” Ruby whispers, kissing my chin while I struggle to come to terms with the shit that just came out of my mouth. Then reaching out, she brings in Cameron, kissing his cheek lingeringly, too. “Put me down and let’s talk.”

I stifle the urge to rip off her thong bikini bottoms and give it to her from behind while Cameron watches, just to regain some sense of equilibrium, control, but she’s asking me so sweetly and I’m caught up in her blue eyes.

The way she wiggles down until her feet are on the floor, taking both of our hands and guiding us into the kitchen.

Cameron and I lean against the counter, arms crossed, looking down at Ruby.

It’s hard to concentrate with her all sandy and sun-kissed, not to mention those bare ass cheeks, but I take a deep breath and attempt to listen.

“We’ve discovered a lot about each other and ourselves since yesterday, wouldn’t you say?

” Cameron shifts uncomfortably, but nods.

I grumble a non-committal answer. Her voice falls to a near whisper.

And when I hear what she has to say, I’m glad she’s quiet about it, because these are subjects for the middle of the night, not a sunlit kitchen, right?

“Dean likes to be my Daddy when we’re intimate. And I like that, too. A lot.”

“Are you trying to make me hard, Ruby?” I bluster.

She gives me a cheeky smile. “Cameron, you’re a little more complicated. You like watching me and Dean…play those roles.” She reaches out and traces a circle around his navel, causing his breath to quicken. “Even hearing me talk about my private time with Dean gets you…aroused.”