Three Rings and a Rose (24 page)

Tate’s eyes widened, and he coughed dryly before he lowered his gaze to the designer shoes he wore. “Excuse me? The two of them couldn’t keep their acts together two years ago. What could have changed their mind and yours?”

Tate’s response seemed off somehow. Ella had never known him to look away from her when she was talking—unless he was hiding something. If she didn’t know better, she would believe he knew about Caedon and Micah’s plan.
I’m being ridiculous.

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With an annoyed sigh, Ella shrugged again. “I don’t know,” she mumbled.

Lifting his eyes, Tate growled, “Liar.”

“I–I think they’re in love with each other.” If possible, Tate’s eyes widened further, growing until she feared they would pop out of his head like an old cartoon. “Seriously? They finally admitted it? I figured it would take them longer than this.”
Finally admitted it? Longer than this? Huh?

“Motherfucker,” she cursed. Shoving him in the shoulder, she considered kicking his scrawny ass. “You knew that, too.”

“Yep,” he replied, nodding his head. “I know everything. I’m brilliant like that.”

Ella stuck her tongue out at Tate, who laughed. “Besides, it’s obvious how they feel about each other. I can’t believe none of you figured it out before now.”

Ella shook her head sadly. “I have.
They
haven’t.”

“What?” Tate asked in awe. “They still want to share you but not each other.” He snorted. “This is getting better and better. I figured they would change their minds once they cornered you at the Founders Day party.”

Whoa now. Hang on there just a second, baby brother.
“How did you know about the Founders Day party?” Ella glowered at Tate, stopping midstep and staring furiously into the eyes so like her own.

“You suck. You knew about their plan, too.” Tate nodded. “I helped. Go figure.”

“That’s amazing. I didn’t figure you to be the helping type,” Ella quipped, elbowing Tate viciously.

Shrugging, her brother grinned with a smugness that grated on her nerves. “I didn’t either. It wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be.

I highly doubt I’ll do it again.”

Ella scowled. “You’re so full of shit. You’ll help me. You always do.”

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Tate chuckled, his smile crinkling his laugh lines. “That’s my job.

I’m your brother.”

“Well, I need you to do your job now.”

Tate seemed to sober suddenly. “You need help?” Nodding, Ella said, “Yep.”

“Anything for you, Ella-belle,” he replied.

Taking a deep breath, Ella peered over her brother’s shoulder. It might make her a wussy, but she didn’t want to see his face when she asked him what she needed to know. “How do I get them to admit their feelings for each other?”

Ella hated to ask Tate this question. After his devastating loss, she rarely discussed any of it with him—or anybody else, for that matter.

But she had to. He knew the answer better than most.

“You can’t.”

She gasped. “What?”

Tate frowned, a distant look coming into his eyes. “They have to find their way to each other,” he said. A sheen of sudden but not entirely unexpected tears shimmered in his blue depths. “You just have to be there for them. Listen to them and buffer for them. Do whatever it takes to help, and they will work it out. Just let them do it.”

Ella’s heart ached for her brother. Placing a comforting arm around his waist, she whispered, “I’m sorry, but I had to know.” Tate blinked the moisture away. “No, Ella. It’s fine. I want things to work out for you, Caedon, and Micah. The three of you deserve your happy ending. I wouldn’t have helped them otherwise.”

“So do you,” she replied.

“Let’s focus on you and your men,” Tate countered, not giving her a second to put her thoughts together. “Since they’re going to be proving to you that a permanent ménage with them would work, why don’t you turn the tables on them? You can show them just how good a relationship between the two of them can be.”

“You just said they had to work it out for themselves.”
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“That doesn’t mean you can’t be sneaky and sly. You’re good at that.”

Ella nodded. “I am. Then again, so are you. Any ideas?”

“Just a few...thousand.”

“Then get to talking, little brother,” she demanded.

And he did.

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Two weeks later…

Ella rolled over in her bed. Or she tried to. The two warm, half-naked bodies on each side of her prohibited her from going far. She sighed as she remembered what day it was. She’d made it. She could finally carry through with the delicious things they’d been teasing each other with for the past fourteen days.

Lifting her head, she glanced over Caedon’s shoulder at the bright display of her digital clock on the bedside table.
Midnight on the dot.

She snickered.
They crawled into bed with me at precisely the strike
of twelve? Mmhmm. Looks like I’m not the only one dying to get laid.

All three of them had been struggling to not carry things too far, especially her. After all was said and done, she figured it was rather fitting that she be the one to suffer most of all. She’d invoked the stupid limit in the first place.

Even though she’d attempted to persuade them to abolish the offending rule, they’d been able to hold her off. They’d stuck to it perfectly. Now she couldn’t say the same thing about herself. She’d tried everything short of begging, pleading, stealing, and borrowing.

If they’d given her the go ahead, she would have jumped their bones on the spot—in public, behind closed doors, standing up, sitting down, on her back. She wouldn’t have cared as long as they fucked a little of the horniness out of her.

Obviously they’re giving me the green light now. Otherwise, they
wouldn’t have crawled into bed with me in the middle of the night.

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“I can hear you thinking all the way over here, sunshine,” Caedon murmured as he flipped over to face her. Brushing her cheek with his thumb, he smiled at her. And for once, she was grateful that she generally slept with the light on in the hallway. Even though he had his back to the door, enough light shone in the room for her to be able to see his face. “What has you so worked up?”
As if you didn’t know.

The man spooning her from behind clearly agreed with her. He chuckled. “If you don’t know, we need to have a talk about the birds and the bees.”

“Can we have a hands-on lesson?” Caedon asked eagerly with a crooked smile. “I learn best that way.”

“I’ll just bet you do,” Ella retorted, but she couldn’t help grinning back at him. “I guess we’re lucky since I learn the same way.”

“I was always better at reading the information and absorbing it that way,” Micah informed them in all seriousness. “But I could make an exception this time.”

“No, no, no,” Caedon said. “If we’re playing school, you’re the professor, and we’re your pupils.”

Ella groaned. “No! No roleplay.”

Giving her puppy dog eyes, Caedon asked, “Why not? I
am
an actor.”

With a sensual smile, Ella threw one of her legs over Caedon’s and told him, “If you want between these legs, you’ll have to learn a few things—like I can’t act to save my life.” Reaching down, Caedon caressed her bare thigh from knee to hip, and she hummed in pleasure. “Who said you have to act?” Caedon asked. “You can stay quiet, and we’ll take care of the show.” Two surprised male gasps sounded around her as they both obviously caught what Caedon had let slip. Of course, they both made no response after that. Their silence deafened Ella, and she figured it was up to her to change the sensitive subject they’d been dancing around since Caedon had arrived in Serenity.

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Over the past few days, Ella had noticed Caedon and Micah getting more flagrant about their feelings for each other. It was obvious that they were as in love with each other as they were with her. But neither of them seemed ready to relent and confess what was obviously in their hearts. So she’d done what Tate had suggested.

She’d been the guide pushing them together when things were on the right track, and she’d been the distraction when things got precarious.

It was obviously time for her to divert their attention.

Here we go again with the go-between bit. What’s a girl got to do
to get her boyfriends to fuck each other? Seriously.

Ella gave an over-the-top snort. “That’s another thing. I don’t stay quiet. I groan. I moan. I scream, and I cry out.”

“Oh I remember,” Caedon replied, and a little of the tension seemed to dissipate between the three of them. “Just in case I don’t recall every detail, why don’t you illustrate that for me
and
Micah?” Grinding his erection into her backside, Micah ordered, “Show me, snowflake. I’ve dreamed of hearing you scream my name.” Caedon lifted his hand from her leg and reached over to Micah.

Patting Micah’s bare arm with a tender, loving touch, he assured him,

“Don’t worry. She’ll scream your name a lot. Our woman is a loud little thing.”

“I’ll show you loud,” she muttered before launching herself at Caedon. Obviously prepared, he caught her around the waist then rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of his rock-hard body. She didn’t give him a second to catch his breath, to say a word, or to even move. She just cupped his handsome face with her hands and kissed him with everything inside her. No holding back. No regrets or worries. She let her body take the lead, allowed it to have free reign on her actions. Her mind no longer existed. It was her body and his.

Ella caressed Caedon’s lips with hers, nibbling his pliable flesh before slanting her head to the side and delving into the humidity of his mouth. She tasted him, sipped at him, as though it were the first
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time their lips had touched. She savored the unique taste that was Caedon and only Caedon, and sighed into his mouth.

Caedon returned her kiss without controlling even the smallest action. He let her hold him and kiss him. He gave her the freedom to do what she wanted with his body, and she loved him all the more for it.

The bed jostled unexpectedly as Micah moved. Unable to see where he was going or what he was doing, panic flash froze the blood in Ella’s veins. She tore her lips from Caedon’s and turned to Micah.

Mirroring her actions, Caedon swiveled his head and looked at Micah, too.

Only, surprisingly, Micah wasn’t going anywhere. Fuck no. He was getting more comfortable. Rotating to his right side, Micah propped his elbow on the fluffy pillow next to him and rested his head on his clenched fist. “Don’t mind me,” he said with a shit-eating grin.

“I’m enjoying the show.”

Caedon groaned, and Ella pursed her lips. She sent Micah an air-kiss then returned her attention to a patiently-waiting Caedon. “I love you,” she whispered as she captured his lips again. This time, however, she had no control of their kiss. Caedon did.

Caedon grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled gently, administering enough tension to elicit a tingle in her scalp. As he kissed her rapaciously, his grip tightened. With each thrust of his tongue into her mouth, he tugged harder. Every twine, every tangle of their dancing tongues ratcheted up the intensity until the strain grew to be too much, and she gasped.

Not releasing his rigid hold, Caedon tugged her head back, and she met his burning gaze. “I love you, too,” he countered sweetly as his piercing eyes stared straight through her and into her soul. He leaned forward and nipped her lower lip before trailing wet kisses across her cheek. Drawing what felt like zigzags with his mouth, he worked his way down her jawline then wandered over the curve of her neck before placing the softest of kisses on her collarbone.

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Caedon didn’t remain there long before he journeyed back upward, returning exactly the way he’d come. As he reached her lips once again, he murmured, “It’s Micah’s turn,” then released her hair.

Dropping his voice to a seductive tone that made her body vibrate in need, he smiled wickedly. “Before you go to him, I think I need to warn you that when it’s my turn again, there will be no more Mr. Nice Caedon. I will fuck you like I wanted to two years ago. Back then, I was willing to hide my darker nature. I’m not now.” Ella nearly came as Caedon’s words connected with her brain.

She’d fantasized about this moment since the day they’d met. She’d imagined all the things he could do to her body when he let go and released his inner beast. Now the time had arrived, and she could barely hold onto her dignity.

Sucking in a steadying breath, Ella’s sassy self returned rapidly.

“Sugar britches, I didn’t want you to hide from me back then, and I certainly don’t want you to do it now. So give it your best shot. You weren’t the only one hiding their wild side. I’ll bet you can’t even shock me.”

Caedon arched his eyebrow at her. “We’ll see about that, sunshine.”

Micah, who had been an avid spectator, finally made his move.

He sat up jerkily then scooted backward until he butted into the headboard with a
thump
. Extending his long arms, he pulled her to him with the help of Caedon and plopped her down on his lap.