Appassionato (10 page)

“Jake, oh my God, I want to touch you. Can I touch you?” Duncan asked as he quickly peeled his pants the rest of the way off. He stepped forward until he was pressed up against Emma’s side, eyes still on Jake. She shifted so his cock would rub against her hip, making Duncan shiver. She smiled, expecting Jake to agree immediately. She could feel him in her head, his arousal and need so strong her legs almost buckled. Except he wasn’t agreeing. Along with the desire came a wave of uncertainty.

“Jake, I would never hurt you. I love you. I’ve always loved you.” Duncan wrapped his arms around Emma, and she felt the hurt beginning to well up inside him.
Stupid men!
She wanted to hit Jake. Behind all the hesitation, she felt an inferno rising, and she was afraid that very soon all choice would be gone. If they wanted to have any control over what happened, they had to trust each other. She looked at Jake and reached out her hand. He looked back at them, hesitant.

“You can feel him, can’t you, Jake?” Emma whispered.

“Yeah.” Jake cleared his throat. “I can feel you both. I just—” he broke off and rubbed his face with his hands then took a deep breath. Emma sensed him calming himself down. “I’ve been straight my whole life, and this is overwhelming.” He looked at Duncan. “I love you. I always have. I’m just struggling with how that love is changing. I look at you and I see the man I’ve known for years, but I’m also seeing someone I want to kiss. Someone I want to fuck. I don’t know what to do with that.”

Emma’s heart skipped at the brutal honesty of his words. He stood there, naked in body, and then he willingly bared his spirit for them too, just so they could understand what he felt. They might be able to sense each other’s emotions, but she was coming to realize that knowing how someone felt and having them articulate it were two entirely different things. The love that she thought she had for Jake, growing from the initial stages of the bond, suddenly flared even more with his words. She sensed that Duncan was nearly overcome. She surged forward, pulling Duncan the two steps it took to get to Jake, and pressed herself against him, trusting that he’d catch her. Duncan slipped up on the other side and wrapped himself around them, and then they closed their eyes as the bonding suddenly blazed, barely in their control. Jake trembled, and Emma felt his emotions churning, then she kissed him, and his cock leaped against her bare skin. Duncan groaned and shoved his erection against them both, making Emma gasp into Jake’s mouth.

“Shit.” Jake tore his lips away, panting. She felt him struggle for air.

“Jake, man, it’s okay.” Duncan pressed his face into Jake’s shoulder. Jake’s hand came up and carded through Duncan’s hair while Emma held herself still, trying not to move and ignite things further. “We can stop if you want.”

“Just, no. Give me a second here.” Jake breathed, and Emma felt his free hand flexing on her hip. “Okay, this is ridiculous. I’ve loved you my whole life. I have no issues with your bisexuality or anyone’s sexuality. I know you, inside and out. I can feel the bonding about to escape us, and I’m afraid what will happen if we let it. I don’t want to fuck and fuck and have us wake up an hour later, hurting and stupid.” Jake shuddered, and Emma thought she felt tears on her forehead from where Jake was holding his face so terribly still. “So let’s do this. I choose you.”

Duncan shuddered and then shoved Jake and Emma to the sofa. They fell in a heap, and Emma wasn’t sure where one man began and the other ended, but it didn’t matter anymore. The fire that was inside the three of them raged up, and she felt pleasure tear through her body as the two men kissed, devouring each other. She rubbed her pussy against Duncan’s thigh and was at the edge of climax in an instant. Then Jake rubbed his cock against Duncan’s hip and it was all over. Emma shook as her body flexed and burned with fire. She couldn’t stop it, couldn’t keep herself still. She heard someone moaning and then realized it was her. She grabbed the two men, writhing against their bare skin, shoving her breasts and lips against them as if they were fuel and she a flame that desperately needed more to burn. The men took what she had and gave back at the same time. She felt them against her hips, her stomach, and kissed blindly, not knowing which man’s lips were on hers. It didn’t matter. The three of them orgasmed together as their minds spiraled out, hooking themselves into each other in a way that Emma couldn’t comprehend. The climax went on and on, and she felt the warm heat of their spunk slide down her body to mix with the moisture seeping down her thighs. No one cared. When the three of them finally stopped spasming, Emma realized that they hadn’t even managed to have intercourse and started giggling.

“What?” Duncan asked, his voice muffled in her hair. She couldn’t tell if he was on top of her or underneath and laughed harder. She could hear him panting.

Oh my God, we’re a mess,
she thought, shaking her head, boneless with the aftershocks of their mutual orgasm. She couldn’t move if she wanted to.

“Honey, me, too. I couldn’t move if you paid me right now.” Jake flexed his hand against Emma’s breast then let it flop back down, spent.

“Wait, what?” Duncan exclaimed, his body tensing.
Did you say that out loud, Emma?

“What?” Emma wrinkled her brow. She felt drunk. What was he asking her?

“No, she didn’t say it out loud,” Jake answered, his voice cracking. Emma felt his hand clutch hers, fingers pressing hard into her palm. She tensed, trying to shake off the post-coital fog.

“Holy shit.” Duncan breathed.
Can you hear me talking to you?

“I can hear you,” Emma said, confused.
How is this possible?

“I think it’s the bonding.” Jake shifted, sliding Emma off him and onto Duncan. He sat up, rubbing at his arm. “If we concentrate, we can hear each other.”

Duncan rubbed Emma’s arms when she shivered. “You mean, like telepathy?” Emma said aloud.

“Yeah. Try it again, honey,” Jake said.

Okay. I’m thinking that this is really weird.
Emma tried to send to the men. She frowned when they flinched. “Um, I take it that worked?”

“I don’t think you need to push your thoughts at us that hard, sweetheart.” Duncan sat up, pulling Emma with him. On the other side of him, Jake frowned down at his arms.

“What is it?” Emma asked, leaning forward to see. She could feel his apprehension and tried to send soothing vibes.

“Look at my arms.” Jake put his arms face up on Duncan’s lap. Emma smiled as she felt a sudden spike in Duncan’s libido.

Stop that
, Jake thought, half-amused, half-irritated as Duncan’s cock began to swell.

I can’t help it!
Duncan thought back, his mind’s voice laughing.

Emma rolled her eyes then looked more closely at the bonding tattoos on Jake’s skin. “It looks like they’ve been colored in. Here, tilt your arms a little.” She reached over and shifted his hands until the tattoos caught the light.

Duncan gasped. “Emma, yours are the same.”

She looked down, not surprised to see that her tattoos also had subtle colors glittering against the strong black lines. She grabbed Duncan’s left arm and dragged it up. “So are yours, Duncan.”

What’s happening?
Jake thought. Emma felt his apprehension fade as he realized that both of them had the new markings, too.

“I think our bonding is different from the others. I remember reading about how the bondings seemed to make people able to feel each other’s emotions, but I don’t remember them saying anything about telepathy or colors. Hell, I don’t remember them saying anything about sex like that, either.” Emma sighed and sat back, brushing her hair off her face distractedly.

“It’s strange how quickly the news reports disappeared, too,” Duncan said thoughtfully. Jake nodded, then all three of them jumped when someone banged on the door.

“Duncan! For fuck’s sake, are you in there? Have you seen Jake?” a man called through the door. He banged again as both Jake and Duncan’s minds supplied a name for the voice—
Levi
.

Shit!
Duncan thought, standing up.
What time is it?

“Time to get fucking dressed.” Jake hissed, reaching for his jeans. Emma laughed out loud.

“Why the hell are you laughing? Everyone is going to know exactly what we’ve been doing in here,” Duncan grumbled, unsuccessfully trying to pull up his leather pants.

“I’ve never been caught necking or petting or having sex somewhere I wasn’t supposed to, ever. It’s kinda cool.” Emma smirked. She knew she should feel the same sense of urgency as the two men but couldn’t seem to get over the feeling of joy that her orgasm had mind-whammied into her. She watched Duncan tugging on the leather and shook her head.
Men are helpless.

Hey!
The double-thought hit her at the same time Jake looked up from buttoning his shirt and Duncan gave up trying to pull up his pants. Levi banged again, and all three could hear the muffled cursing the guitar player wasn’t bothering to keep quiet.

“Just a sec!” Jake yelled, grimacing at the mess on his abdomen. He was holding his shirt out, obviously not wanting to get it dirty.

“Come on, man! Duncan’s supposed to be in the meet-and-greet right now! I know you know where he is, so tell him to get the fuck over it, whatever it is, and get the hell out here. The fans are getting antsy,” Levi yelled through the door. He gave it a last bang, then Emma heard him walk away, his boots hitting the floor with angry thuds. She looked at Jake, still standing with his shirt held out. He was adorable. She shrugged.

Should have cleaned up before you got dressed, dude
. Emma smiled and stood up, looking around the room. She spotted some water and paper towels on a side table and walked over to get them, strangely unselfconscious in her nudity. She could feel both men watching as she walked and put a little extra wiggle in her step as she grabbed the water and cracked it open. She doused a few towels and tossed them to the men.
Wipe off
, she thought then wet some for herself, quickly cleaning up.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Duncan muttered, his face flushed. Emma chuckled again. He was cute when he was flustered.

“I kinda love you,” she said to them quietly, pulling on her own jeans and hurriedly zipping up. She felt Duncan and Jake send thoughts of love to her. She smiled as she pulled on her bra and shirt, stopping for a second to admire the swirling green-purple-blue pattern on her tattoo. She couldn’t see the colors unless she held her arms just so. It was like looking at a nearly invisible oil slick in the sunlight, or the last fading colors of a rainbow. She liked it. She deliberately pushed away the thoughts of what all of this would mean for her life and for the men’s lives.
We’ll figure it out later
, she thought, happy to get a wave of agreement from both men as they finished getting dressed.

Chapter 5

“Emma! Good morning!” Julie walked into the office on Tuesday morning, more chipper than anyone had a right to be, Emma thought as she sucked down another mouthful of coffee. She lifted her head blearily. “Whoa, are you okay?” Julie stopped at Emma’s desk.

“No,” Emma replied, head pounding. In the back of her mind, she could hear Jake and Duncan echoing her sentiment. Since the concert on Friday, she’d been feeling increasingly worse. She knew the guys weren’t doing much better, but it wasn’t until this morning that she realized it had something to do with the bonding.

Maybe we shouldn’t be apart like this,
Jake muttered in her mind, and she shook her head, feeling a wave of nausea sweep over her. Duncan winced, and she felt him trying to soothe the three of them, unsuccessfully, as he was also suffering the effects of this miasma. It was weird having them so present in her head even though they were still hundreds of miles away.
But they’re getting closer
, she thought, sensing the turbulence on their airplane. It wasn’t helping any of them feel better.

Julie slid the pile of books she was carrying down onto the desk with a thud. “Hey, you must be sick or something.” Julie reached out, putting her hand on Emma’s forehead. Her cool palm felt good. “You’re hot.”

Emma grimaced. “I know.”

“You should go home.” Julie sat down next to her friend. “Maybe you caught something at the concert? There were a ton of people there.”

Emma shrugged, too tired to respond. “I don’t know. I felt fine until yesterday. Sort of.”

“Hey, at least the concert was epic!” Julie said, smiling. “Meeting Duncan was amazing!” Emma smiled through her discomfort as Julie did a little bounce in her seat. “He was so nice! And Jake, too.” Julie smiled slyly. “And neither of them could keep their eyes off you. I even heard one of the reporters talking about it.”