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“Hey.” I brush her hair back from her face. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”
She struggles out of my embrace as Clay and Gabe stride through the door, filling the small room. Resting her hands on her thighs, Allie breathes in a few steadying breaths and then swipes at her damp cheeks. “I’m okay. Everything’s fine.”
“That woman’s a piece of work.” Clay’s usual easygoing smile is replaced by a scowl and, when he reaches out a hand to rest on Allie’s shoulder, she doesn’t recoil.
“Seriously, what was her deal?” Gabe asks.
“She doesn’t trust me. That’s her deal. She delegates, but then has to make sure that everything is being handled exactly as she would do it. There’s no room for me to have my own ideas. It’s like being a puppet on long strings. For a while, I can do things I want to do, then she yanks on the bar and I’m dangling all over again. It knocks the wind out of me.”
“She’s an idiot,” I tell her. “But hearing that probably doesn’t help.”
Allie runs her hands over her hair, the exasperation written in her every movement and expression. Focusing on me with her honey-colored eyes, she seems to soften. “It does help. Sometimes I feel like I’m going mad. Everyone in the office loves Kirsty. They’re always gushing over what an amazing boss she is. It’s not just me she’s like this with and I don’t understand. She’s the one who hired the whole team, but she never lets us do our jobs. I know I’m a great writer and what she makes me do to my work reduces its quality.”
“I’m sure it does.” I reach out to take her hand, tugging her closer. “Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe she’s threatened by you.”
She shakes her head too quickly, an instinctive reaction before her expression becomes thoughtful. “I never looked at it like that.”
“Maybe she wants to be able to claim some of your achievements for herself, so she doesn’t have to admit you could do her job in a heartbeat.” I’ve read five of Allie’s articles. I know how great she is at making even the smuttiest topics thought provoking and eloquent. I know her potential even if she doesn’t. I know what it’s like to be browbeaten by other people who don’t consider the impact of their harsh words or their manipulative behavior. I’ve worked for controlling assholes who’d demolish a man who stepped out of line, even if the line was drawn in the wrong stretch of sand.
“I just…I hate getting so frustrated.”
I rise and pull her into an embrace, stroking my hands across her back over and over. She melts against me, and Gabe and Clay watch with concern etched into their frowns. I make eye contact again, trying to ask the same question. What can we offer her to make her feel better? I’m met with two shrugs that match my own uncertainty. It might not be the right moment for this, but without asking, how will we know?
Then her hands trail up my back and down my sides in a way that feels like exploration.
Sex shouldn’t be about dealing with the stresses of life, but it does a good job of wiping it away, even for just a while. Allie turns her face and presses a soft kiss to my chest, and the need to ask her what she wants drifts away. She’s telling me, in her own way, with a gentle touch that gives me insight into what she needs. I bend to kiss her forehead where the hair on her hairline rests in little wisps and curls. She smells of the ocean and the sunshine, fresh like a day at the beach. The soft sound she makes at the back of her throat tickles the back of my neck. All her tiny movements set off an awareness in me that I’ve never felt before. This woman who I hardly know brings out instincts in me that I’ve buried for a long time.
The instinct to protect. The instinct to nurture and support.
Gabe steps forward, reaching out to rest his hand on Allie’s back and she turns into this touch, her hand searching for him. She slides easily into his embrace too, making the same soft sounds. Clay hangs back but Allie reaches out her hand again, searching for contact with him, too.
The loss of her warmth leaves me aching, but she’s not gone for long. Somehow, she brings us all close, crowding her as she moves between us.
She wants this.
It’s totally clear.
She fits between us like it’s always been this way.
It’s Clay who moves on a step, grasping the hem of her shirt and lifting it over her head. Gabe eases her shorts down from behind and I step in to unfasten her bra. When the cool air hits her breasts, she moans, and it’s like a lick over the sensitive skin of my balls.
Before anyone touches her, I twist her until she’s looking at me, grasping her face between my hands. “We’re going to make you feel good,” I say. “If you want us to.”
A kiss pressed to my lips is her answer. It’s a kiss that’s firm and laced with the same kind of ache that burns inside me.
Gabe’s hands reach around her body, gripping her breasts and twisting her nipples and she arches her back, staring into my eyes as she lets him pleasure her, and as I watch, the arousal that pools in my cock is at war with the strangeness of this experience.
I want this for Allie. I want what she wants because I know she needs to feel in control…to feel free.
But this isn’t something I’ve ever experienced before and being able to handle sharing a woman with two other men is going to take some getting used to.
24
CLAY
I had a feeling this was going to happen. After Carson encouraged last night's antics, I wondered where Allie would want to go next. Either she was going to be filled with regret and call the whole damned thing off or go further. Carson’s always been like that. The instigator. My mom thought he was a troublemaker, but throughout my whole life, he’s helped me find the confidence to do the things I never thought I’d do. I guess Tom and Gabe wondered too because it only took one look from Tom for us to end up here, surrounding Allie while she whimpers for more.
And more she’s going to get.
