“You’re stroking that greedy little clit, aren’t you?” He exhales and leans back against the couch. “Get up here, Emma.”
I ignore him and keep sucking his cock. Derek looks at me as if he can’t decide whether to drag me up his body or let me finish him off. I make the decision for him, reaching between his thighs to cup his balls. I give him a squeeze and just like that, his fingers tighten in my hair and he’s thrusting up into my mouth.
There you are.
I relax instantly, letting him drive this, trusting him. It’s a little rough and a whole lot sexy, and when he comes, I drink him down without hesitation.
Derek hauls me up into his lap and kisses me. He wraps his arms around me and I feel so fucking safe, I’m suddenly sure I can stay like this forever. I clamp my mouth shut to keep myself from saying something that will ruin this moment. He’s been as all over the place as Grayson and I have been, and if we’ve settled on an endgame we’d like, I don’t know if Derek has.
I don’t know what we’ll do if his endgame doesn’t match ours.
He rests his chin on my head. “Merry Christmas.”
“A very merry Christmas.” I snuggle closer. “Grayson mentioned that you’re cutting down on travel.” Derek’s spent most of the time I’ve known him bouncing from city to city for jobs, staying long enough to see his design put into reality before he moves on. He keeps a home in New York, but he only comes back for a few months at a time in between projects.
“Yeah, I got an offer at a local company. It’s a different set of responsibilities, but the pay is good and it means I only have to travel if shit goes sideways with a project.”
My heart leaps and I lift my head. “So you’ll be around more?”
“Around is relative since you two moved out to Brooklyn.”
I snort. “It’s a train ride away.” But even as I say it, I know I’m a liar. Yes, it’s only one train ride, rather than a flight or something like that, but it might as well be a different city for all Derek is going to make the regular trek from Manhattan.
Unless we give him reason to.Chapter 14After we eat lunch, Derek has to take his turn wrangling the airline, and then we all end up on the couch watching a movie. It’s some artsy type of thing that both Derek and Grayson are into, and I end up falling asleep against Derek’s side. I must move at some point, because when I wake up, I’m lying on the couch with my head on his thigh, his hand heavy on my hip.
I blink my eyes open to find him and Grayson making out again, and I bite my lip because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this will never get old. My shifting must clue them in on the fact that I’m awake because Derek reaches down to cup my pussy without missing a beat. He spears me with two fingers even as Grayson delves his hands into Derek’s pants and starts jacking him. I reach up and grab his wrist. “It’s time.”
It’s a token of how well we know each other that no further explanation is needed. Without another word, we take ourselves to our bedroom.
I pause in the doorway, a flutter of nerves alighting in my stomach. I know what comes next, and I want it more than anything, but what if we fuck it up and ruin things with Derek? I look at Grayson, but for once he doesn’t anticipate me. He’s too focused on Derek. My husband considers him. “We’re both going to fuck you.”
Derek gives a faint grin. “Sure.” For all his attempt at smiling, his shoulders are tight and he seems almost jumpy. As if maybe, like me, he just realized that this is a new step past the point of no return. And, just like that, my nerves fall away. I want to make Derek feel good, to make him feel valued.
To make him feel loved.
I cross the few steps between us and slide my hands up his chest to loop around his neck. “Hey.”
He exhales slowly and catches my hips. “Hey.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
His lips quirk into a small, but very real smile. “It has nothing to do with not wanting to, and everything to do with after.”
After this is over.
I open my mouth to ask if there needs to be an after, but Grayson cuts in before the words can emerge. He grasps the backs of both our necks and kisses first me and then Derek. Then he urges us to kiss.
How many times has Derek’s mouth been on mine in the last twenty-four hours? More than a few. This kiss feels different. It’s harsh and desperate and I sink into it even as I feel Grayson take my robe off and then move around to slide down Derek’s pants.