“Beautiful,” Darren murmured, his hand running up her spine to unhook her bra, while Howie slipped her panties down. Ella stepped out of them quickly and kicked them to the side.
“Your turn,” she said, her eyes gleaming wickedly. “I want to see you all.”
Laughing, we all obeyed her immediately, stripping away our clothes as quickly as we could. Ella took us in, her eyes roaming over each of us one by one. In her face, we could see the love she held for each of us in equal measurements. There was no competition between us, no vying for her attention, her love. Rather than forming a wedge between us, Ella brought us together, bound to each other by our love for her, as well as for each other. Together, we formed a family, and nothing could ever come between us.
Ella’s fingers trailed over each of our chests, sending shivers through each of us in turn. “How did I get so lucky?” she asked, wonder in her voice. “To have so many incredible men love me?”
“We’re the lucky ones,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. Finally, I could bear the distance between us no longer, and I stepped forward, crushing her against me so that she was where I needed her at last, skin to skin. Ella’s breath caught in a little gasp. “Ella,” I said.
And then there was no room for words. Everything that we needed to tell her, we could show her with our touch, our fingers, our lips, our tongues finding all her most sensitive spots.
We took our time with her, knowing we had the rest of our lives together, to love each other. One by one, we took our turn, laying her down on the silk sheets of the king-sized beds and loving her thoroughly, until she came undone under our hands, crying out her release over and over. I wanted to hear that cry for the rest of my life.
When we were finished, we collapsed in a sweaty, breathless heap in the center of the bed, laughing together. Ella lay in the center, an expression of blissful peace on her face. “I can’t believe I’m going to get to do that forever,” she said.
“As long as you’ll have us,” Darren said.
“I’m so glad that van broke down that day,” Ella said. “I can’t imagine what my life would be without you all in it.”
“Me too.” I kissed the back of her hand. “I would be lost without you. We all would.”
Sighing happily, Ella snuggled in between us, nestled comfortably in the center of the nest formed by our bodies. “When I left West Virginia, I wanted to have an adventure,” she said. “I never imagined anything close to this. And it’s all thanks to a broken down van and Demi.”
“We’ll have to invite Demi to the wedding,” Saul agreed, and Ella nodded.
“I wonder if Demi stocks wedding dresses,” I said.
Ella giggled. “A latex wedding dress?” she asked, and I shrugged.
“Hell, if you’re already going to have an unconventional wedding, why not go all out?”
“I can wear my harness,” Lester volunteered, and was quickly hushed by Chris.
Suddenly, Ella’s eyes flew open. “The wedding!” she said, and the rest of us exchanged startled glances. “I’m going to get to plan a wedding!”
Howie laughed, a little nervously. “Why do I get the feeling we don’t know what we’re getting into with this?”
Ella ignored him, her thoughts already far away, planning the perfect eight-person wedding. “We’ll invite Demi, of course. Maybe even Isabel and Jacques . . .” Chris perked up at that. He had been begging Ella to introduce him to Jacques since the night of the fundraiser. “And my dad . . . Oh.” Her face fell a little, and I felt my heart twist in my chest.
As happy as our last few months together had been, I knew that keeping our relationship secret from her father had weighed heavily on Ella’s heart. I had seen the sadness that crossed her face sometimes, when she thought none of us were looking. I knew how close they were, and how much Ella hated keeping anything from him. I suspected that was the reason why Ella hadn’t spoken to him much in recent months; she found it too hard to lie to him outright. I knew she worried about disappointing him, but this new distance between them hurt her, and I hated seeing her hurt.
Gently, I took her hand in mine. “You should call him,” I said quietly.
Ella’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at me. “What if he’s too disappointed in me?” she whispered, finally voicing the doubts that I knew had been plaguing her for months. “What if . . . what if he doesn’t want to come to the wedding?”
“Then that’s his loss,” I assured her. “But I really doubt that’s the case. I know how much your father loves you; it’s clear in the way you talk about him. I’m sure that all he wants is for you to be happy.”