Summer Surrender (Phases Series, Book Six) (7 page)

She nodded. “I think so,” she breathed.

“Good.” He pinched her nipples harder. “I can feel how close you are. Every little flutter around our cocks. Every little contraction.” He trailed hot, open-mouthed kisses over her shoulder and back and along her neck. It was so sensitive there that she nearly screamed at the sensation of his whisker roughened jaw scraping over her skin.

He was right. She was close. It would only take the tiniest thing to push her over the edge. Her impending release twisted and knotted within her, writhing and doubling over on itself until she thought she’d fly apart.

“It’s okay,” Josiah murmured. “Just let go. Let it take you.”

Without warning, Daniel sank his teeth into the side of her neck—the curve where her neck and shoulder joined. That was all it took. The knot snapped and spun in ever widening circles until the shuddering release poured through every bit of her body.

Daniel and Josiah plowed through her clenching, rippling muscles, riding her hard through the orgasm. Josiah grabbed her ass and held her tight to him as he pumped a few last times before he stiffened, coming hard. Daniel followed him several seconds later with a few more uncontrolled thrusts into her ass and a guttural cry. It sounded as if it might have been her name.

Panting and barely able to catch her breath, Hollis collapsed against Josiah’s chest. His hand rose to gently caress her face. As he thumb brushed across her cheek, he paused.

“Hey now. What’s this?”

She lifted her head slightly to look at him. “What’s what?”

“You’re crying. Did we hurt you?”

“God, no,” she said, quickly wiping away the tears. “I think I’m just overwhelmed.”

Both men tightened their arms around her, whispering how amazing she was. Finally, Daniel gently pulled free from her body, followed by Josiah and both men disposed of their condoms before crawling back in bed with her. They both snuggled up at her sides, and this time, they dropped into an exhausted sleep.

Hollis was tired too, but she wasn’t ready to sleep yet. She wanted to stay awake for a bit longer and savor the delicious aches in her body and the intimate time with Daniel and Josiah. Who knew how long it would last?

Chapter Five

Hollis sat at her desk Tuesday afternoon waiting for her class to clear out. She was tired, and her body still ached pleasantly from an entire weekend spent with Josiah and Daniel. Hell, she’d spent last night with them, too.

Of course, it all hadn’t been all sex all the time. They’d finally coaxed her into her swimsuit, and they cruised the western shore of the lake in Josiah’s power boat. According to Daniel, Josiah’s need for fast toys was more important than a decent place to live, which was why he spent the majority of his salary on his boat and motorcycle and lived in a dumpy apartment. However, Josiah had pointed out the dumpy apartment was home to a latte maker. He’d made sure to bring her at least one elaborate coffee drink every day.

They’d even had supper one night with Dylan. He’d seemed to be in a slightly better mood, but he still watched her intently, almost as if he was waiting for her to grow a second head or something. Despite the fact she was sleeping with Daniel and Josiah, she was still undeniably attracted to the other man, too. She shook her head at herself. Apparently, her inner slut was really enjoying the chance to get out.

The following day, the guys had also taken her up to Copper Harbor to see the sites and shop at roadside antique stands. It had been the perfect day. Of course, as she’d quickly discovered, it seemed like most days were better with them in it. Tendrils of worry sprouted in her stomach. This was all well and good for now, but what would happen when the summer came to an end? Already, she was too comfortable for her own good. She liked them far more than was safe or sane. She bit her lower lip as she thought. She needed to put some kind if distance between them if she was going to survive the rest of the summer without falling in love with them.

Josiah entered the room carrying a giant, steaming cup of cinnamon vanilla latte—her favorite. “Hey, sweet cheeks, I thought you might be able to use some caffeine.” He glanced around the room making sure they were alone. “After all, we kept you up pretty late last night.”

Daniel entered the room as Josiah added, “Wanna stay up late again tonight?”

Hollis grinned and looked between the two men. “I do…but I have to review some material for tomorrow’s class. How about if I come over after supper?”

Yeah. She was doing a bang up job of putting some distance between her and the guys. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, she took a drink of the coffee and sighed happily. Who needed Starbucks when she had Josiah? She mentally shook her head at herself. She was so screwed.

* * * *

She stopped by Maggie’s diner on the way home, hoping her friend was around. Maggie wiped her hands on the apron around her waist and filled a glass with ice and Coke, sliding it to the end of the counter for Hollis. Climbing on the stool, Hollis put a straw in the glass and gratefully took a sip.

Maggie leaned on the counter, staring intently at her and clearly waiting for Hollis to spill everything.

“Well?” she finally asked. “Which one?”

Hollis blinked. “Which one what?”

Maggie leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice. “Daniel or Josiah? You haven’t been around all weekend, so I know it’s got to be one of them. And they both seemed pretty damn interested at the cookout, so spill already.”

A fiery blush crept across Hollis’ cheeks, and Maggie’s eyes widened.

“Both?” she demanded.

At Hollis’ nod, her friend’s eyes got even bigger. “I don’t know whether I should high-five you or lecture you.”

Hollis laughed. “All things considered, you don’t have a lot of room for lectures.”

Maggie held up her hand. “High-five it is, then.”

Hollis giggled and slapped her hand. But she quickly sobered. “I know it’s just for the summer. I’m not expecting anything more than that, and I sincerely doubt the guys are looking for more than that, either.”

Maggie glanced down at the counter and wiped at a spot that didn’t exist. “You might be surprised at what they’re looking for.”

“What do you mean?”

Her friend continued scrubbing at the non-existent spot. Finally, she stopped and looked at Hollis, swiping at the bright red curls that had fallen into her eyes. “I mean that, when they find the right woman, they’ll be looking to settle down. Together. So if you think that’s not something you can handle, you might want to get out sooner rather than later.”

Hollis stared at her friend, positive that there was more to the story than she was telling.

“Look,” Maggie continued. “I’m not saying that’s for sure what’s going to happen, but it’s been a long time since I’ve see them date the same woman at the same time.”

The bells above the diner door jangled, jarring Hollis nerves. Maggie left her to greet the customers—a tourist family from the looks of it—and seated them at a large table across the room. After she rattled off the nightly specials, she passed out the menus and made her way back to Hollis.

“Like I was saying,” she said as she returned to her spot behind the counter. “I think they might be looking for more than you think they are.”

Hollis leaned forward, not wanting anyone to overhear. “So, how common are ménages around this place?”

Maggie smiled. “With some groups of people, they’re more common than others.”

Hollis was about to ask if Maggie meant the Native American population, but Maggie had to take orders and seat another group of hungry diner guests.

Hollis thought about her theory. Quinn, Lucas and Daniel were all clearly of Native American descent, and Josiah looked as if he might have had some native blood in his ancestry, too, though much farther back in his lineage than the others. It could be that, she supposed, although anthropologically speaking, she didn’t remember coming across anything that suggested a predisposition to polyamorous relationships in any of the textbooks she’d ever read on the subject. Maybe she’d do a quick internet search for that after she downloaded her habitat cam data.

Maggie handed the orders through the window to the cook before turning back to Hollis. “Do you want to put in an order before the real supper rush starts?”

“That’s probably a good idea. I’ve gotta go over a lesson plan before I see the guys tonight.”

“I’ll have it made to go, then,” she said with a grin.

Hollis smiled gratefully. “That would be great. Thank you.”

Once her order was finished, Hollis went back to the cabin and booted up her laptop while she ate. Her email took a lot longer to download than usual. Curiosity flared to life, and she wondered what she’d find in the files. They were huge.

Since the cameras only recorded when movement triggered them, she figured the forests around here were more active than she’d anticipated. As soon as everything downloaded, she played the first file. Several different kinds of birds, gray and red squirrels and the occasional bear and several deer. The next file was from the same location, but at night. Owls swooped in and out of view along with hundreds of tiny bats.

She switched to the camera behind the cottage. There were the same assortment of birds and small game during the daylight hours along with a pack of gray timber wolves and someone’s fat, orange-and-white house cat. She hoped it had found its way home before the wolves got to it. House pets were fair game for hungry bands of carnivores.

Several huge bears wandered through the frame in both the daytime and nighttime portion of the videos. And the bats were visible in virtually every night shot.

On the video of the previous night, she finally saw what she’d been looking for. The huge lynxes. Except now there were three. One of them turned and attacked the others, baring its teeth and swiping with extended claws. The animals rolled and snapped at each other in a snarling display of dominance.

One of the cats threw the aggressive one back several yards. The animal landed in a crouch. All at once, its body began to stretch and distort. It reminded her of an inflatable beach toy filled past capacity with an air pump. All of the fur receded becoming firm skin. The other two lynxes began to shift, their bodies contorting in what looked to be an equally painful metamorphosis.

As she watched, they morphed into the shapes of men. Her fork clattered forgotten to her plate. She pushed her food aside, too fascinated, shocked and horrified to eat. She leaned so close to her computer screen, her breath fogged the glass. Finally, the trio lifted their heads. Daniel, Josiah and Daniel’s brother Dylan stood in the open area outside her cottage in all their naked glory.

After a few minutes of animated discussion, they wandered out of frame. It couldn’t be real. Of course, it wasn’t. People couldn’t turn into animals and vice versa. It went against the laws or nature and physics and probably a million and twelve other laws, too. It just wasn’t possible. For some reason, they’d created this fantastic, elaborate hoax.  In the middle of the night. In a virtually uninhabited area. Where no one would ever see. Yeah. That made sense, didn’t it?

Swallowing hard, she finally managed to close her mouth. With shaking fingers, she hit replay and watched the recording again. And again. And again. Her hands were ice cold as all the warmth seeped from her body. After watching it for the final time, she almost accepted that it was real, though her brain kept trying to come up with hundreds of scenarios that explained away the action that repeatedly unfolded in front of her.

She supposed it was possible that the devices had been tampered with to send these false images to her computer. But why would anyone do that? If the tampering had occurred it only made sense that it was one of the guys, but she couldn’t imagine either Josiah or Daniel trying to freak her out like this. Dylan on the other hand…  Maybe it was his attempt at warning her away from his brother. He definitely didn’t seem to like her much.

She pushed play one more time. It didn’t look fake. Not that she’d ever seen anyone shift from animal to human. She couldn’t possibly know if that was a realistic portrayal or not. Fear swelled inside her. If this was real, what did that mean? That she’d slept with animal people? Anger quickly followed her fear. They’d fucked her, knowing they weren’t quite human. What if she’d gotten pregnant? Would she have kittens? Literally? How could they not tell her?

She rolled her eyes at her own idiocy. And what would they have said? “Hey, baby, ever make love with a real animal?” Why would they have told her? They barely knew her. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She wasn’t going over there tonight. She couldn’t. She needed to think.

Woodenly, she got to her feet and locked both the front and the back doors.

Several hours later, her phone started ringing. Picking it up, she looked at the caller ID. Josiah. She considered letting him go to voicemail, but she didn’t want him to call back, either. With no small amount of trepidation, she answered.

“Hey, sweet cheeks. You still coming over?”

She cleared her throat nervously. “Actually, I’m going to pass on tonight. I think I might be coming down with something. I’m not feeling very well at the moment.”