She laced her arms around my neck, and I lowered my face to hers. I found her mouth with mine, eager to explore her once again, and taste all of the sweetness that was Paige.
Our Paige.
But for right now?
My Paige.
I pulled the towel from her, and pushed her gently back down against the pillows on her bed.
"How do you feel about having right now just be about you and me?" I whispered against her neck, as my tongue traced patterns on her soft damp skin.
She shivered again, pressing her nakedness against me, and I could feel my cock straining against my boxers.
"I'd like that, Cain," she said, and I could feel her smile. "Better get a condom from the nightstand," she instructed, nodding to her right.
I obliged, mentally making a note for her to take the necessary steps for birth control so that our sex could be condom-free in the very near future.
I'd been with many women in my thirty-one years on this planet, and I'd done my share of threesomes for sure. But it was just like I'd told Paige when she first realized what I was about. This wasn't the beginning of some threesome marathon, or even the fancier word that carried a bit more class: ménage. This was totally something else.
And to be honest?
It scared the hell out of me.
But at this moment, I had more pleasant things to occupy my mind with than trying to piece together why it scared me. I would have to think about that…later.
chapter 21
February 22nd
It was my birthday.
My 23rd birthday and though I hadn't reached the age yet where I looked upon birthdays as the most dreaded day of the year, I still wasn't up for all the fuss that my men were making about it.
Breakfast had been served in bed.
Their bed, as a matter of fact, where I'd been sandwiched in between their well-muscled bodies all night long.
It seemed as if my guys had some sort of a bet going amongst themselves as to which one of them would be the last one to give me the Big 'O' while I was still twenty-two.
Officially, I believe that Eli's tongue had won that honor smack dab on my clit, although I had tried to stifle my moans so that Cain's fingers would continue that magical thrumming of my G-Spot so expertly, in order to allow me to double my pleasure even though the clock had slipped to a couple of minutes past midnight.
"What was the actual hour and minute of your birth?" Eli had asked me, continuing his sweet assault on my clit.
I swear to God, these men could be as competitive in bed as Serena and Venus Williams were on the tennis court.
Finally, totally satiated and just plain fucking worn out, I had drifted to sleep, only to be awakened by the alarm at six a.m. to find the bed totally devoid of masculinity.
Several minutes later, in they came with a tray, bearing my birthday breakfast, card and wrapped gift, along with a single red rose in a crystal vase.
I was instructed that I had to eat my waffles, complete with strawberries and whipped cream, before I touched the card and gift.
I gobbled my food down like a pig, as you can well imagine.
The card was sentimental, not comedic, so I knew immediately that Cain had selected it, and he had done very well in picking out the perfect card. The front of it read, "Happy Birthday To The One We Love."
I felt my face flush as I read the loving and poetic words printed inside, and saw both of their signatures scrawled at the bottom, with "I Love You," written twice.
My eyes brimmed a little bit, and Cain immediately cleared his throat and ordered me to open my present.
The box was small, so I knew that it was jewelry of some sort, but I swear to God, the tears re-surfaced again when I opened the small, black velvet box and removed the beautiful gold necklace that had three encased birthstones dangling from it.
My stone, amethyst, was in the center and the largest of the three stones. Eli's stone, aquamarine for March was to the right; Cain's emerald for May was to the left.
"It's gorgeous," I breathed, carefully removing it from the velvet lined box. "Thank you so much. I love it."
Eli helped me get it fastened, and I fingered it gently, loving that the stones were close to my heart.
"And don't forget," Eli spoke up, once he had fastened the clasp and dropped my hair back down, "We're taking you out for dinner this evening, so don't dawdle getting home from the base, got it?"
"Yes sirs," I said, smiling up at them. They both leaned in, planting soft kisses on my cheeks.
"I love you guys," I said softly.
Work was the usual. I did think it odd that Darin made it a point to come by my station and wish me a Happy Birthday. I doubted very much if he would've even remembered when my birthday was had it not been for the February calendar on the bulletin board that marked birthdays for the staff in our department.
"Big plans for the birthday girl?" he asked, giving me a sexy wink.
"Naw," I said, not looking away from my computer screen. "Dinner out with the roomies. They insisted."
"Did they now?" he asked, quirking a brow, and getting a bit of a devilish grin going.
Really dude?
What's up with that look?
"Is there something you want to say, Darin?" I asked, giving him a slight glare.
"Just wanted to wish you the best on this special day," he said, walking away. "You've been looking great, by the way."
I contemplated his curious behavior. I mean, I was so over all of the bullshit that I'd encountered with him, having chalked it up to "That's life" and gone on my way, hardly giving it much thought anymore. I certainly didn't confide in him—or anyone for that matter—about my relationship with Cain and Eli. I wasn't the chatty type about my personal life; I never had been.
It dawned on me that Darin, with his "you’re looking great" compliment just might be trying to rekindle something with me, and if that were the case, he was definitely barking up the wrong tree.
These past couple of months with my guys had been an experience for me, and not one that I'd likely ever want to part with.
I mean sure, there had been feelings within me that were confusing at times; little pangs of jealousy on the nights that I had opted to sleep in my own room (mainly to get a good night's rest due to Eli's snoring) when I'd hear the familiar headboard banging against the wall.
I had realized that they were going on without me, and yes, I had felt a bit jealous and insecure about that, I'll admit.
But then I had thought it through, and had realized that if I'd gotten up and went into their room, they would've immediately welcomed me into their bed, and made love to me so hard that it would've taken my breath away, as always. So, I had reminded myself that it had been my choice, and not theirs, to sit this one out.
The only other aspect of it that still bothered me a bit was the fact that I knew I was head over heels in love with Cain. You see, I lay awake one night and totally dissected the dynamics of my relationship with these men.
And here's what it boiled down to: we were all in love with one another and the depth of each person's love couldn't possibly be measured. I might've been a bit more in love with Cain; Eli might've been a bit more in love with Cain, but I was fairly certain that Cain was in love equally. And maybe that's exactly what was needed to make this all work out.