Sweet Bitter Honey Read online

  “I told you,” Ryan said, taking his hand and guiding him a few feet to the right. “She’s here, lying on the bed, her nipples are hard and ready and that sweet pussy—well, you’ve only felt a little of what it will do for you.”

  But Cole stopped, frozen, panic making his throat close. He shook uncontrollably and his brain started a familiar slide into terror.

  He wanted this. More than he’d wanted anything since losing Dan. But he wanted them both, and that just felt selfish and wrong. Panic gripped him and he sensed withdrawal on his horizon.

  Lynette bit her lip when Ryan led Cole to the bed. She still tingled from the knee-jerk orgasm she’d had, coming practically from the sheer presence of the men, Ryan holding her leg while Cole stroked and kissed her. But the smaller man was shaking more than she liked, so she sat up, put her hand on Ryan’s arm and mouthed the words, “Back away a minute.”

  He nodded and stepped into the shadows of the candlelit room. She pulled Cole down to seated and handed him a glass of water. His unseeing eyes shone in the dim light, his amazing, thick shaft pressed up against his belly, but his hand trembled when he handed the empty glass to her. She put it down and sat next to him, running her fingers through his hair, light, easy, attempting not to throw him down and straddle him and in the process scare him to death. He took a deep breath and smiled at her.

  She cupped his chin. Her heart hammered against her chest. She was turned on beyond belief, but something else nibbled at the corner of her consciousness. She was not this girl, and how she’d gotten to this point was simultaneously thrilling and mortifying.

  Something about Cole—his innocent smile, his poor ruined eyes, his odd juxtaposed strength and extreme vulnerability—made her pause. Maybe this wasn’t right. She leaned her head on his shoulder. He shifted and put an arm around her. His lips touched her hair.

  “We don’t have to go any further, Cole. If you don’t want to. I…I’m feeling a little predatory right now. Don’t get me wrong. I want you.” She let her fingers trail along the inside of his muscular thigh. Her skin pebbled in reaction to his shiver and a pearly drop of fluid appeared at the head of his cock. She forced herself to take her hand off him. “Maybe we’ve done too much too soon.”

  “Oh, hell no,” he said, his voice low and raspy. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more.” He ran a finger along her jaw, tilted her face up and kissed her, parting her lips, meeting her tongue and pressing her back on the bed at the same time. She sighed and put one foot on the bed, letting the cool air caress her from tip to toe.

  “Lynette,” he sighed into her neck. He cupped a breast and caressed her nipple. “I am pissed off beyond belief that I can’t actually see you but believe it or not your smell has me so turned on I…I’m afraid. I can’t be what you need me to be. I’m…oh…”

  She gave in to the moment, let it carry away any of logic or rationale and just kissed him, pulled him over on top of her and wrapped her entire self around him. If she angled her hips just right, she would have him and she wanted it so bad it hurt. But he propped up on his arms, the strange green of his sightless eyes seeming to bore into her, intent and sad. He started at her jaw, licking, nibbling, making her shiver, then worked his slow, delectable way down.

  “Oh, dear God, I love these.” He cradled the curve of one breast, tugging and sucking so hard on one nipple she pulsed in immediate response. She threaded her fingers in his hair and closed her eyes, an odd sensation pressing behind them as if she could actually cry from the perfection of the moment. But she was no crier, so she focused on the exquisite sensation of Cole’s lips and hands instead.

  “Nice,” said Ryan’s soft voice near her ear. She opened her eyes, looked at him and held out a hand. He threaded his fingers in hers. Cole nibbled his way down her torso, palmed her hips and lifted them to meet his face. Ryan rolled in next to her, his long cock pressed hard against her hip.

  He kept holding her hand. “That’s right, Cole. Right there. She is so incredibly sensitive.” He brushed the back of their joined hands against her nipple. She let go and cried out when Cole’s lips found her clit. He sucked hard, elongating her flesh, tickling it with his tongue before he let go, making her gasp and tilt her hips higher, needing him back where he’d been.

  He flicked his tongue downward and stroked along the edges of her pussy. She gripped his hair, felt Ryan’s strong hands on her nipples, pinching, tugging when Cole latched on to her clit again. She draped her legs over Cole’s shoulders with a sigh of pleasure. His hands dug into her ass. Ryan leaned into suck her nipple. Her vision dimmed. The room narrowed and her back arched.

  She opened her eyes and drew in a huge breath. She smelled man, all around her, all over her. She released Cole’s hair, touched her face and drew her fingers away wet, startling herself. But right then, tears seemed like the only reflection of the extreme emotions that gripped her.

  “Lynette,” Cole whispered. He climbed up between her legs. “Don’t cry.” He covered her lips with his at the same moment he thrust into her. She had no idea where Ryan went and that moment she didn’t care. She gripped Cole’s neck, tasted herself on his lips and tongue and met his every movement. They went slow, easy, but there were only two people in the universe—her and the amazing man above her. He broke the kiss and buried his face in her neck as his hips moved faster. “Don’t ever cry…” he said, so softly she barely heard him.

  She wrapped her legs around his waist and he spread her, going deeper with each movement. He stayed close, allowing her constant contact with his pubic bone. She gripped his ass when yet another orgasm hovered. She arched up, letting it take her. “Cole, oh God, yes.”

  “Shit,” he muttered. “I can’t…I’m…oh…” He shook all over, his strong arms holding him up over her. She stared at his face, loving the beautiful look there. “Lynette,” Cole said, his voice breaking.

  She pulled him down, trying to stop the stupid girlie tears, but then just let them flow. They felt natural, like a part of this moment. He shivered, dropped onto her.

  “Oh God, I’m sorry,” he said, struggling back up.

  “Shh…no, no, it’s fine. I love it. I love the way you feel.” She sighed and held him to her breasts. “That was…”

  “Amazing,” he mumbled, then propped up again, kissing her and running his tongue along her lips then into her mouth. “I could kiss you all fucking night.”

  “I wouldn’t tell you no,” she said. The tears kept rolling down her face, no matter what she did. He touched her wet cheek.

  “I said, no crying.” He rolled to his side and propped up on one elbow, all the while keeping his fingers on her face, her neck, her breasts. Then to her utter mortification, she let loose and sobbed while he held her close, crooning and making shushing noises. She had no idea why, but it felt great, cathartic, and as much a part of the moment as the connection they’d just shared.

  By the time she’d gotten hold of herself, she had no idea how much time had passed. He felt complete, holding her, kissing her hair. She sat up, rubbing her nose. “Where’s Ryan?”

  Ryan stood and watched his long-held fantasy unfold. Saw Cole drop down between Lynette’s legs, bury his face in her pussy while Ryan stroked her nipples, teased her until she came in a frantic rush of erotic energy. Then, that moment when the man climbed up her torso and dove into her, his strong ass moving, her lean legs wrapped around him, their age-old dance of sexual satisfaction filling his brain, something in him snapped. He sat back, stood, rubbed his eyes.

  Cole was whispering to her. She was about to come, Ryan could tell. She arched up, cried out his name. Ryan clenched his jaw. He backed farther away, stumbling over a chair, still watching. “Wait,” he whispered. “You didn’t put on a…” He groaned and sat, fisting his cock and giving it a couple of quick tugs. Cole’s back arched, his head went up and he called for her, his body shuddering in the grip of climax as Ryan groaned and covered his belly with his own fluid.

  He
sat, breathing heavily, frozen in place. Cole stayed over her. They kissed and he heard a sob and sat up. Lynette? Crying? No way. But yes, her shoulders shook and Cole rolled to her side and held her close, kissing her hair, telling her it was fine.

  Ryan stood, a kind of bizarre fury hitting him between the eyes. He knew it for what it was—jealousy. He acknowledged it, walked out of the room and stood in the kitchen, holding the edge of the sink and counting to twenty then forty. He looked up at the ceiling.

  This is what you wanted. Remember?

  “Ryan?” Lynette’s voice floated out of the bedroom.

  He’d spent a fair amount of time discussing this night with her. They figured that Lynette should be the one to invite him over, tell him it was merely for sex, but only if he wanted it. He’d agreed, to their surprise, and Ryan had held back the urge to ask about Jake. None of his business and besides, ‘this was about sex,’ as they kept insisting even to each other.

  He looked out over the dark lawn and had a terrifying epiphany. He wanted more from Lynette. He wanted to be with her every morning, every night, to hold her hand and take walks. He closed his eyes.

  Get. A. Fucking. Grip. She does not want any of that from you.

  And now? He sighed, ran a hand down his face. “In here,” he said, fixing a neutral look on his face after wiping off with a towel and tossing it into the laundry room.

  “Come on in here.” Cole’s voice sounded strong, stronger than he had heard it in a long time. “We’re lonely.”

  He smiled and stood in the doorway. The two people he adored were sitting in each other’s arms, gloriously naked. Cole’s hand cupped Lynette’s breast, almost casually. Ryan smiled at the realization that Cole was a breast man, which worked, since he was an avowed legs and ass guy.

  Her hand was draped along his thigh. The room was suffused with lusty smells, with a distinct undercurrent of the sweet honey-like fragrance Cole had pointed out to him and that now filled his senses whenever he was around Lynette. He shook off the emotional bullshit, or tried. Then he strode over. “Okay, then let a guy in, will ya?”

  They parted, and he dropped down between them, forcing his brain to shut down when Cole’s lips found his and Lynette straddled him. He was hard again, amazingly enough, but felt detached somehow, and already worried—how would this work? Where would they sleep? Why didn’t he remember to give Cole a condom?

  “Jesus!” he yelped when Lynette leaned down and bit his nipple.

  Cole laughed and leaned back on his arms. “Okay, my turn to watch,” he said, hand on his shaft. Ryan did a double take, but Cole’s face was calm, happy, free of bitterness or irony. Cole leaned up and found Lynette’s lips, then released her, making his way up Ryan’s torso, licking and sucking then kissing him, hard, until he slid into the soft welcoming, familiar depths of Lynette’s body, realizing about a beat too late he had forgotten his own condom but no longer really giving a shit.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  One night, two months after they’d started their ‘sex only’ program, Lynette sat at the dinner table with the men, sipping a beer. The whole surreal nature of this crazy arrangement was mind-boggling. The logistics of their encounters, considering Ryan was a single dad, sometimes overwhelmed her. His place was only available if Audrey were willing to have Jamie overnight. She had been, until she’d gotten some terrifying news relative to her pregnancy and had nearly gone off the deep end. After that, Ryan felt guilty asking her. The boy’s grandmother would take him sometimes but had a lot of questions about it that Lynette knew Ryan couldn’t answer.

  Lynette’s apartment was certainly not an option, not with her mother still hanging around, asking her about her ‘brewery man’ all the time. So, they ended up at Cole’s place a lot, although his bed was small and too crowded for her taste. They were there tonight, around his kitchen table, glaring at one another. The day been a long one for everyone, and they’d been testy, snappish and more than once she doubted her sanity for thinking two is better than one when it came to the hairier sex.

  She’d thrown a heavy pepper grinder straight at Ryan when he kept complaining about the dinner she’d made, unable to find a single thing right about it. Cole had nearly fallen out of his chair laughing when Ryan had yelped, cursed and caught the thing with his skull before it fell to his lap.

  ‘Fuck you, you’re no better,’ she’d yelled at the man still trying not to laugh too loud once he realized how upset she was. ‘I’m leaving,’ she’d declared, dead serious—although she was so amped up at the thought of being between them again, she hesitated. They had only managed actual sex a few times, again, logistics and practicalities keeping their base urges at bay. But those times had been mind-blowing, deeply emotional experiences, for her at least.

  Cole spoke first, leaving Ryan glowering at her, hand covering the knot rising on his head. “Wait, Lynette, I’m sorry. He’s sorry. We’re being shits. But we’re over it now. It’s out of our system. Okay?”

  Ryan snorted. Lynette glared at him but let Cole draw her back to the table. “You’re just saying that because you want to get laid,” she said into her beer, realizing the utter absurdity of that comment. Of course, he did. That was why she was here, with them, in the first place. Something about that realization made her chest tight. Cole took her glass, set it down and put her hand to his lips. She smiled at his painfully handsome face, stuck her tongue out at Ryan and let Cole pull her into his lap.

  “Yeah, I do.” She felt Cole’s leg move under her and heard Ryan’s yelp when Cole’s foot connected with his. “But more importantly, we want you to be happy.”

  She looked away from him, but he found her chin with his fingertips and drew her back to his lips. Dear Lord, but the man could kiss like nobody’s business. She sighed and wrapped her arms around him, letting him dive into her mouth with his tongue, loving the stirring underneath her when she clenched the back of his neck and held on tight.

  She studiously ignored Ryan, paying full attention to Cole, running her hands across his shoulders, then down, unbuttoning his shirt and yanking it off his arms, keeping their lip lock. She sighed, feeling another set of hands on her shoulders, easing her blouse off and unclasping her bra.

  She leaned back against Ryan’s torso when he reached around to cup her breasts, rasping his rough thumbs against her nipples. He teased her neck and shoulders with his lips and teeth. “Sorry,” he whispered in her ear. “Truly,” he claimed when she shot him a dubious look. “C’mon.” He picked her all the way up off Cole’s lap, having his own turn with her lips while he carried her down the hall. Ryan set her on the bed. She sensed Cole between her legs, kissing and licking up the inside of them before using that amazing mouth on her clit.

  She moaned and gripped his hair while Ryan kept teasing her nipples, drawing them into stiff, needy peaks. The orgasm startled her with its quickness and ferocity. She cried out and angled her hips up, needing something, someone, inside her, but Cole just sucked at her, running his fingers along the edges of her sex.

  Ryan covered her lips at the last minute, drowning out her cries. She held on to him, let the exquisite climax smother her entire universe. Ryan released her and Cole leaned back, giving her some space to recover. “Goddamn, boys, that was…hey!” Cole smiled and flipped her over in one quick movement.

  She grinned, wiggled her ass and went onto all fours. She knew this drill and loved it. The men switched places and Cole got on his knees in front of her, drawing her up off her hands to meet him. His tongue-tangling kiss gave her a taste of herself, and she held on to him, suddenly needing this connection, this moment of completion so badly her chest ached. She pouted when he ended it, giving her bottom lip a nip with his teeth.

  Reaching down to wrap her hand around his thick cock, she made a satisfied sound, loving the feel of him there, and of Ryan rubbing his shaft against her ass, sliding fingers inside her reaching up high, then pulling out, rubbing her still throbbing clit, then repeating the whole glo
rious process. She arched her back, her whole being on fire with need to be filled, taken, by them both.

  “Mm-hmm,” Ryan muttered, pushing her forward gently so she dropped back on her hands and knees, eye level with Cole’s sex. She loved the sight of his hand around his own cock as she lapped at his head, sucked the early evidence of his desire from the tip. Ryan slid slowly into her. She slipped her lips as far down Cole’s cock as she could. She was still honing her swallowing techniques, but the practice was definitely fun.

  Ryan reached around to find her clit, pressing and rubbing it so her back arched more, taking all his length inside her. She sucked Cole back down, and he thrust deeper, breaching her throat a little. He threaded his fingers in her hair, tugged it, the way she liked.

  “That’s it,” Ryan said, “Fuck her mouth, baby. She wants it, don’t you, Red?” He smacked her ass, hard, making her jump and moan and her skin heat where he’d struck her.

  He moved faster, going deep and hard inside her, hanging on to her hips now while she pulsed around him.

  “God, Lynette, I’m gonna come. Do you want it, or should I…” His last words were drowned in a loud groan.

  “Pull it out,” Ryan croaked, still pounding into her. “Show me, Cole.”

  “Fuck,” Cole muttered, and his cock stiffened as he yanked it out of her mouth. “You too,” he insisted. They both pulled out of her at the last minute, coating her with cum.

  “Shit,” Cole grunted then flopped to his side. Lynette smiled down at him when his eyes dropped closed. She stood when she heard Ryan start the shower for her. He pulled her to her feet and wiped her back and face with a towel while the man she’d barely known as anything other than Audrey’s wounded, gay brother fell into a deep sleep.

  “Leave him.” Ryan pulled her close for a gentle kiss, holding her face with both hands. “You’re amazing.”