Blackthorne, Fiona - Moonstruck [Blue Moon 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (27 page)

Sean looked good enough to eat in a black suit, complete with a black vest. He also didn’t wear a tie, and his open collar tempted Ava’s eyes down to the covered muscles of his chest. His short black hair was spiked, and he looked full of devilish thoughts as he studied her boldly.

Ava blushed under his gaze, looking down at the silky, slinky gray satin gown she wore. Declan had picked it out for her, along with a ton of other couture clothes that now hung in her closet. This dress had the lines and styling of a 1930s movie star’s glamour, with draped fabric off her shoulders, and a heaviness to the material that made it swirl around her ankles as she walked. Of course, Declan had also picked out what she was wearing underneath, as well, and she blushed even harder thinking of the flimsy bits of lace and silk.

Unconsciously, she reached up to touch her neck where a doubled-up opera-length strand of lustrous Mikimoto pearls lay warmly against her skin. Robert had presented her with the necklace and matching pearl and diamond stud earrings when she had come down the stairs earlier. Her protests at the expensiveness of the gift had been completely ignored, and all three of the men had gazed at her adoringly as Robert had fastened the pearls around her neck.

“She’s thinking of something,” Declan said to his brothers, leaning back in his chair and smiling wickedly at her. “You can always tell when Ava’s thinking of serious thoughts because of the way she narrows her eyes like a cat’s.”

“She tilts her chin down, too, so that it’s like she has to look up at you,” Sean added.

Robert said nothing but reached over and gently touched her hand.

“She is right here, boys.” Ava laughed, breaking out of her reverie. “Actually, I was wondering about my dissertation advisor.”

“What about her?” Robert asked as a waiter came over and handed them all heavy, leather-bound menus.

“Well, her husband’s family owns White Farm. I was just wondering how that happened. I mean, I know it’s up for sale now, but I was curious as to how long they had owned it.”

Robert smiled and nodded. “You would think there would be some kind of ultimate tie-in with the Barrows or the Bells, but there really isn’t any. White Farm passed from family to family, and for the past hundred years, mostly outsiders have owned it. None of them owned it for very long or ever spent much time there, for obvious reasons. But, that’s about all there is to that.”

“The last loose end,” Ava said. “Tied up in a pretty little bow.”

Declan raised an eyebrow at her, and she blushed again, her cheeks tingling with the sensation as she thought of the various pretty little bows to be untied on the lingerie she wore.

“What do you want to eat?” Sean asked, ever the one for action.

“Um, you know this place best. You pick for me. The only thing I don’t like is salmon. Oh, and exactly when are you going to finish fixing Mimi? It’s been almost a week since you took her into the shop.”

“Oh, about that.” Sean grinned until she thought his smile would reach around his head. “I guess it’s time for my gift for you, tonight.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of shiny keys with a black alarm fob.

“I’m afraid I have bad news,” Sean continued. “Mimi the hatchback never made it off the table. She died of a massive carburetor attack while under anesthesia. She didn’t suffer. Much.”

“My car is dead?” Ava exclaimed, a rush of panicked financial thoughts filling her head. “I’m a grad student. I can’t afford a new car! You have to fix her!”

“Well, um, she’s already gone to the scrap heap in the sky, baby. But, I got you a new hatchback. You’ll love it, I promise.”

She watched, stunned, as Sean took her hand and pressed the keys into it. She looked down at the logo on the key and saw it was a Volkswagen. There were also two other regular house keys on a sterling silver keychain that had a small pewter wolf dangling off it.

“It’s a VW Golf, baby,” Sean said. “You can name her anything you want. She’s great. Red. Really zippy.”

“Great,” Robert groaned. “Just what we need. Ava zipping around on six cylinders on these roads.”

“No,” she exclaimed, overwhelmed at their generosity. “You can’t do this! You cannot just buy me a car, and pearls, and an entirely new wardrobe. I don’t need all of this. I don’t deserve all of this. Just being with you guys is enough. Seriously. I…I don’t know what to say. I don’t feel like I can accept all of this.”

“It’s the least we can do for our wife,” Declan said calmly, taking her left hand and slipping a beautiful diamond ring onto her finger.

Ava stared in complete shock down at the three huge diamonds, each surrounded by a halo of diamonds, with diamond pave and milgrain work down the shoulders and shank of the ring.

“I can’t marry three men,” she said dumbly, looking up at each of them. “I mean, it’s illegal to marry three men. And, then, there’s my dissertation. And, I need to get a job, and who knows where I’ll end up teaching? And, I have student loans, about two lifetimes’ worth that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pay off. And, I mean, we’ve only known each other two weeks. And, it’s illegal to marry three men.”

Sean and Declan burst out laughing, but Ava’s heart was pounding too hard to find anything funny in her concerns. Everything she had ignored or pushed aside in terms of dealing with this crazy, sexy affair came back at her with a vengeance. Sure, facing down demons and fighting for survival was something that definitely brought people closer, but what about the everyday stuff? What about paying bills, taking out the trash, farting in front of each other, and picking up milk at the store? How long could this sensuous fairy tale last in the harsh light of day?

Robert nodded, his expression serious, which pleased Ava to think that at least someone had thought about all the ridiculous obstacles and reasons something like this wouldn’t work.

“I appreciate your concerns, love,” he said. “Perhaps if we talk this through, you’ll understand that this could really work.”

Oh. Well, that wasn’t what she was expecting. She had thought that practical, serious Robert would be the one to join her as the voice of reason. Not to be the one to try and persuade her.

“First of all,” he said, “you would marry me, as I am the one with the job that would provide you health insurance. Legally, you would only be married to one of us, but if anyone ever suggested that Declan and Sean weren’t your husbands, too, they’d end up on the wrong side of our fists. Remember what we told you about a lot of people in this town living together with two husbands and a wife? Only one of the men is legally married to the woman, but they’re all married in the sight of God. You wouldn’t be ostracized or isolated because you chose to live with us as our wife.

“Secondly,” he continued, “you’ll finish your dissertation, and after that, it will be your choice to work or not. You can be an independent researcher and write books if you want, or, you can get a job at the University of Maine at Orono. We know some people there, and I think they’d be excited to talk to you. Stop. I know you’re going to say that you don’t need anyone to pull strings or cheat to get you into a job. I agree. All we will do is open the door and get you in to meet with them. After that, it’s all you. But, I can’t imagine them turning you down.

“Finally, you can forget about your student loans because we’re paying them off, whether you marry or us not. It’s the least we can do to show our appreciation for all that you risked for our town and for us. End of argument on that point.”

Ava bit her lip as she held back her objections. It was tempting to let them pay off her loans, lifting an enormous burden from her shoulders, one that she’d end up dragging through life on her meager academic salary. No. No, she couldn’t let them do that. She’d return the pearls and the car and leave the clothes. She couldn’t stay. She couldn’t marry them. Could she?

“Wear the ring, baby,” Sean said, leaning over and kissing her. “Wear the ring and just think about it for a few days, okay? Now, if you all are done proposing and arguing, can we order? I’m fucking starving.”

Ava burst out laughing in relief as Sean broke the tension. She realized she loved the way he could always make her laugh, the way he lightened her heart with his good humor. She loved Robert for strength and seriousness, even if she butted heads with him from time to time over what he called his common sense and she called his pigheadedness. She loved Declan’s gentle soul and wicked lovemaking. All three of them fitted perfectly into the facets of her personality, completing her in a way she had never experienced before.

Still, there was the question of could she do this? Could she buck society’s conventions and actually live with three men? She couldn’t really come up with an argument against it that would hold water. In Blue Moon, it was common and accepted, and as long as everyone was loved and respected, it wasn’t anyone else’s business what she did in her bedroom or how she lived her life. Right?

All through dinner and on the way home, she meditated furiously on the idea that she didn’t know them well enough. Was there ever a time when you really did know someone enough? Could there be such a thing as walking into a room—or out of the woods—and knowing that your heart had finally found its home? Did concerns about everyday chores really deserve to outweigh kindness, love, and respect?

“You’re very quiet, love,” Robert said as he lifted her from the backseat of the SUV and carried her into the house.

“I’m thinking again,” Ava replied.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Declan whispered in her ear. He nipped at her earlobe in a way that combined a bite of pain with a shiver of pleasure.

“You’d better come up with at least a dollar fifty, sailor.” She laughed, shuddering with growing arousal as his hands slipped up and down the heavy satin on her skin.

“Maybe we’d better just tease it out of you.” He growled, a sound that sent tingles of anticipation straight to her nipples and her pussy.

His hands followed his words, slinking up to cup her breasts through the fabric and stroke her nipples, letting the lace and silk lightly scrape against the sensitive skin. Her knees practically buckled from the sudden onslaught of throbbing pleasure between her legs.

“Give her here,” Sean said, sweeping her up into his arms and beginning to carry her up the steps. “I’m ready for dessert.”

“You already had dessert at the restaurant, Sean Molineaux,” she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“What can I say? I’ve got a sweet tooth.”

Once inside her bedroom, Ava surrendered to the delirious dream of having three lovers. With aching slowness, her dress was stripped off her and her high heels lovingly slipped off her feet. Wearing only bits of gray silk and lace lingerie, she felt their hands explore her body, caressing, touching, tickling, and teasing her skin in a thousand different ways.

Touch became heat, and breath became a drug. Burning kisses stung her belly, her thighs, and her nipples as she was lifted onto the bed. The pearls pulled tight around her neck, and she could feel them roll against her breasts. She reached for Robert, Declan, and Sean, needing to touch them, to feel their muscles shift under their skin, to feel their heartbeats quicken with desire. To feel them there and present with her in that moment, breathing in the same desire she did.

Using Robert’s discarded tie, Declan bound her wrists to the headboard, pulling down the cups of her bra to suckle on her nipples, nipping and licking one while rolling the other between his fingers.

She was full of wordless cries as she jerked and pulled against her restraints and tried to move to satisfy herself. She saw Robert position himself between her legs and rip the panties off her, tearing the delicate lace to shreds and tossing it aside. Growling, he ran his finger though her honey and plunged into her, hard, taking her breath and making it his as he set a punishing rhythm for his desire. His fingers found her clit and stroked it firmly, bringing her to the cliff’s edge of ecstasy and sending her flying as his release and hers came at the same time.

Sean swallowed her cries with his deep kisses, sucking in her breath and sound as Declan moved down to her legs. Sean untied her and turned her over on her hands and knees. He swung in and out of her pussy, groaning with pleasure, and Ava felt him hit the sensitive spot inside her, bringing her almost to a toe-curling orgasm again and again without pushing her over. He pulled out, and she felt the hot, wet tip of his cock at her tight hole.