Raines, Elizabeth - Sold [Wicked Missions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (11 page)

After what seemed like forever, Lyrianna saw the pods. Grids of the round glass spheres seemed to stretch out forever—farther than she could see. How could two men possibly take care of all these containers?

Each was filled with a small amount of water that contained the roots of the plants. Some spheres were obviously “ripe,” being entirely filled with leaves of many different shapes, colors, and sizes. Herbs that Carter and Brandon sold to make their fortunes.

The spheres looked so fragile, Lyrianna was afraid to touch them. She swam closer to the edge of the first grid and stared at one of the pods. They obviously held air inside them, but she couldn’t figure out how they were ventilated when they were so far below the surface.

Hands settled on her waist, and she turned to Brandon. Since none of them could speak, she couldn’t ask the myriad of questions racing through her mind. He took her hand and pressed it to one of the glass spheres. She was surprised how hot the surface felt. The sphere itself probably would have taken up the entire living area of their home.

Brandon traced her hand around the curve to a glass pipe connecting the sphere to the next in line. That’s when she noticed the grids were all tied together, each sphere joined to the one next to it and above it with a similar glass tube. Those had to be what brought air below the surface to the pods, probably from the windmills she’d seen in the fruit tree grove. Hadn’t Carter said they powered the pods?

She tried to count how many grids she could see, but quickly gave up. Her admiration for her guys grew when she realized the immense responsibility they had to care for so many plants. No wonder they’d needed her help with the vegetable garden and the animals. She still couldn’t kill a chicken, but she’d stopped naming them after the first few dinners. Now, she simply fed them and collected their eggs, always leaving a few in each clutch to eventually hatch. Milking the goats wasn’t so bad, and those she
could
name, although she doubted her sister appreciated that the one with a little hint of red in its coat was now called Callie.

Arms and legs past the point of exhaustion, Lyrianna pointed up, letting Brandon know she was heading back to the surface. Instead of nodding, he tugged her into his arms, giving her a tight hug. Then he pushed back, grabbed her by the waist, and gave her a hard shove upward, aiding her ascent.

Once her face broke the surface, she quickly jerked the breather off her face. Her fingers were so shaky, she dropped it. Before she could grab a hold of the stupid thing, it sank out of her reach. At least Carter had told her they had tons of them around, so she didn’t make an effort to chase after that one. Her muscles were already screaming at her, and another dive was out of the question.

Out of the water, her legs were almost too rubbery to let her stand. Damn, but she would have to start diving daily to get into better shape. If one of the guys ever needed her help with the pods, she wouldn’t be able to give them a lot of assistance. The farm was as much her responsibility now as it was for the men, and she owed it to them to be as helpful as possible. Yes, she’d start a daily swim tomorrow. Today, she was simply too damned tired.

Perhaps if she made herself valuable to them, that value might someday become affection.

* * * *

“Damn, I wish I could have seen Lyri on her first dive. She seemed to like it?” Carter asked after he peeled off his breather and shoved it in his pocket. He’d been tending some of the farthest pods that were about ready for harvest when Brandon had brought Lyrianna out to the open water, so he hadn’t seen them.

Brandon nodded as he yanked off his own breather and put it in his pocket. “Her eyes were so wide, and I could tell she had a million questions to ask about how the pods worked. She looked like she was terrified to touch one, like she thought the glass would break if she did. We’ll have to show her one of the replacements to let her know how sturdy they are. I imagine she’d like to know more about the operation now that she’s seen it.”

“Did she look impressed?” Stupid question, but he’d been trying so hard to get her to be happy on the farm that all Carter wanted to do was give her more and more reasons to want to stay. He and Brandon had talked, and if she ever said she wanted to leave, they’d agreed they wouldn’t keep her there against her will. Carter had already fallen in love with her, and from what he could tell, even Brandon, despite his somewhat cynical nature, had it bad for Lyrianna. They agreed to give her as many reasons to stay as they could, and neither wanted to go back to their lonely days before she brought sunshine to the island with her smile.

Carter stopped and stared at his mate, wishing he knew what Brandon felt. Did he realize just how bonded the three of them were now? Or did he see Lyrianna as replacing him in Carter’s affections? It had been a while since he and Brandon had enjoyed any time alone—not often since she’d come to their island. He crooked his finger at Brandon, needing to connect with him. “C’mere.”

He didn’t have to ask twice. Brandon swaggered over, put a hand behind Carter’s head, and pulled him into a heated kiss. Carter pushed his tongue past Brandon’s lips, deepening the kiss and needing to let his mate know how much he still loved him. Their relationship had changed since they’d brought Lyrianna to the island, but that didn’t mean they still didn’t need each other.

Pulling back from the kiss, Brandon smiled. “You know I love you. Right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Carter drawled. “And I love you too.” His hand dropped to stroke Brandon’s cock, loving how it grew because of his touch. “Want me?”

Brandon mimicked the action, stroking Carter’s hardening dick through his shorts. “Always.”

“Why do I hear a
but
in that statement?”

“No but. I want you. I’ll fuck you stupid right now. If that’s what you want.”

“There was definitely a but in
that
statement.”

Brandon gave one more caress to Carter’s erection before his hand fell away. “I don’t know how to explain it… It’s like…whenever she’s around, I want her.” He suddenly held his hands out. “Wait. That came out wrong… Fuck. I always say the wrong thing.”

Carter didn’t take offense, because he suddenly understood. Because he felt the same. The two of them had always been enough. Now, the three of them needed each other. “We’re not a just couple anymore, are we? We’re a trio.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not at all,” Carter replied. “I’m horny. Let’s go get our
other
mate and get busy.”

As they grabbed towels from the pile—which Lyrianna had taken over washing and replacing, as she had taken over all their laundry—they dropped their goggles, flippers, and gloves on the equipment racks and stepped inside the house. Since she’d almost always had some great supper ready, he was surprised that no smell of roasting fish or vegetables, her usual choice for meals, welcomed them.

She really was a part of them now. The three would be inseparable. For the rest of their lives.
If
they could convince Lyrianna to stay.

“Lyri?” he called softly, wondering why she didn’t reply. Then he saw her on the bed, flat on her back and sound asleep, wearing absolutely nothing. Hard as it was to pull his eyes away from her tempting form, he took in the small pile of wet clothes, flippers, goggles, and gloves she’d left on the towel beside the bed. She’d obviously been too exhausted to even get dressed.

“I’d forgotten how much diving takes out of someone when they’re not used to it.” Brandon dropped his towel and took off his wet shorts. Instead of getting dressed, he flopped onto the mattress, lying next to her and then tugging her into his arms. “I guess sex is out of the question, so I’m gonna take a nap. We can all make dinner later.”

Since the sun was setting for the beginning of three dark-days, Carter decided some sleep might suit him as well. Sure, he wanted to get laid, but he didn’t want to disturb Lyrianna. He ditched his own wet shorts and snuggled up against her back, loving how she wiggled that sweet ass of hers against his swollen cock. He had to stifle a frustrated groan.

His last thought before sleep claimed him was that he’d do anything to keep her next to him for the rest of his life.

* * * *

Brandon woke with a start, thinking he was in the throes of some erotic dream when he felt the gentle brush of a hot tongue against the head of his cock. As the last of the sleepy haze cleared his brain, he saw Lyrianna licking him from tip to root and back again before she gave him a salacious smile and then wrapped her mouth around his dick.

In all the time she’d been on the island, she’d never initiated sex. Of course it wasn’t as if he or Carter ever gave her much of a chance, jumping her almost daily. To know she’d awakened and reached for him touched something deep inside him. He laced his fingers through her long, loose hair and whispered, “That’s the best way anyone has ever got me up before.”

“Oh, you were already
up
. I just decided to take advantage of it.” She chuckled before she gave his cock a hard suck that he felt all the way to his toes.

Hissing his approval, he savored the visual candy of watching her love him with that sexy mouth. A groan slipped out when she moved away until her tongue licked his balls. He almost arched right off the bed. “Holy fuck, Lyri. You’re killing me.”

“Well, then,” Carter said as he rolled to his side to prop himself up on his elbow. “She can come over here and lick
my
balls. I promise I won’t die when she does.”

“No way,” Brandon replied, stroking her hair. “She’s busy right now.”

Lyrianna chuckled again as she took his cock deep in her mouth at the same time she reached out to stroke Carter’s stiff dick. She’d certainly learned early on how to make sure neither of her men felt left out when the three of them were together.

“So who gets fucked first?” she asked, her smile making Brandon’s cock twitch.

When she knelt, straddling his hips, he grabbed his erection and rubbed it against her pussy. “Seems like you should start what you finished with me. Then you can take care of Carter.”

“Or I could join you both,” Carter said, getting on his knees and crawling behind Lyrianna.

“That’s my favorite thing in the whole world,” she purred. Instead of fucking Brandon, she moved to his side, plopping on her cute ass and staring at the men. “But I’d really like you two to be connected too. I mean, you were a couple before I arrived. I…I wanna see…you…” Her nervousness was clear. “Oh, never mind.”

“What? Tell us what you want?” Brandon coaxed.

She shifted her gaze from Brandon to Carter and then back again. Although her cheeks were aflame with color, she said, “I want one of you to fuck me while the other guy fucks…him.” The last word was a whisper.

“Shit,” Carter said, staring at his cock. A spurt of fluid covered the purple head. “I almost came.”

Brandon grinned, feeling every bit as turned on. Pre-cum leaked from his slit as well. The image of three of them connected in such an intimate way was almost enough to make him spew on the sheets. “I’m in!”

His near shout must have pleased her, because Lyrianna smiled before flopping on her back. “You’ll have to help me with this. The…choreography might be…rough. Who fucks me?”

After exchanging a quick glance with Carter, Brandon rolled to cover her body with his. “Me.” He kissed her, lazily exploring her mouth with his tongue, trying not to let her know just how out of control her suggestion had pushed him. When he finally pulled back, he’d regained a little sanity and figured it was time to tease her. “I’m gonna fuck that pretty pussy, Lyri. Then Carter’s gonna put his cock in my ass.”

Her hips bucked, and a whimper escaped. So…she liked that image as much as they did.

“I’m getting the lube,” Carter volunteered, crawling over to the nightstand.

Brandon rose on his knees just as soon as Carter dropped the bottle on the sheets and put himself closer. He turned, cupped Carter’s neck, and kissed him in the same thorough fashion he’d just kissed Lyrianna, loving the passionate response from his mate as much as hearing her panting for breath, hopefully at the sight of them being affectionate.

“God, I need you to fuck me, Brandon,” she said with a throaty growl. “Now.”

Chuckling against Carter’s lips, Brandon finally ended the kiss. “I love you,” he whispered.

“Love you too.” Carter nodded at Lyrianna. “Now let’s fuck.”

“Gladly.” He turned and dropped toward her so quickly, she squeaked. He caught his body over hers, bracing his weight on his arms while rubbing his chest against her gorgeous tits. “Ready?”

“Past ready,” she replied, spreading her legs wider.