After the Crux (6 page)

“Dorian?” Jake waved a gloved hand in front of his face. “Come inside before your body freezes along with your brain. The women would be so sad if they lost all opportunity to gaze upon your pretty face.”

“Shut the fuck up, Jake,” Dorian muttered.

“You know you’re pretty. But seriously, come inside. Lynn made hot cider…”

Dorian brushed past him. “I didn’t plan to freeze—just cool off. You know how Ross gets when he doesn’t get out.”

“Caged lion?”

“Pretty much.”

“Want me to entertain him tonight? We haven’t played chess in a while.” Jake started tackling the buttons on his parka, his eyes on Lynn and Georgia as the two women bent over something at the table.

Dorian shook his head. “No, I’m going to give him something to knock him out because I’m giving him the go ahead to get up tomorrow.”

“Sneaky bastard. Remind me not to let you mix any drinks for me.”

Dorian stalked out of the kitchen and into his greenroom. He grabbed the new sandalwood oil he’d recently mixed, opened it and took a big whiff. He’d made it for Ross, and hopefully it was going to be a gift for a day he’d never forget.

He followed the sound of pounding fists and halted beside Jenna, waited for her to notice him. She stopped beating the bag to death and turned to him, her breasts rising and falling with her rapid breaths. Her tank clung to her with sweat.

“Come on,” he said before narrowing his eyes. “I’m about to turn up the heat on our plan.”

“’Bout damned time.” She held out the boxing gloves. He set down the oil and grinned when he saw her eyes go wide. “What are you going to do with that?”

“I’m letting him up tomorrow. He needs a good rubdown to get his muscles in gear, don’t you think?” He tugged the gloves off her hands.

She nodded, not once taking her eyes off the oil.

Chuckling, he leaned over and kissed her, opening her lips and slipping his tongue into her sweet mouth. She made a noise in her throat and reached for him only to push him away. “No way. I smell. I want to take a shower and be nice and clean for this show.”

“Show? I thought I’d let you do the rubdown.”

She shook her head. “No way. I’ve had fantasies about this and plan to watch every damn second.”

Lifting his eyebrow, he bent to scoop up the bottle. “Okay then, new plan.” He followed her, started to laugh and then choked on nerves. He felt like he did the first time he’d touched Jenna. Hands sweating, heart racing, excited and scared, and shaking as if he was new at sex. But in this sense, he was. Plus, he didn’t know if he’d be welcome. With Jenna, his fear had been more about doing it wrong. He halted just inside the den. It would be his first time with Ross… Would it be Ross’s first time ever? What if he wasn’t welcome? What if Ross only wanted Jenna? Dorian had to know.

As he entered the room, Ross rolled over in the bed and smiled sleepily at him and like that, fire licked along Dorian’s spine. Yeah, he had to know. Now.

“We need to hike out and make sure our tracks are covered on the road. Jake and I were in a hurry and didn’t stop to pull out the tree limbs.”

“Tomorrow good?”

Ross nodded and sat up slowly. Dorian was happy to see he didn’t seem to be in pain. Nerves still sizzling, he waited until Jenna was out of the shower and wrapped in her favorite red terrycloth robe. Their eyes met as he reached behind him and locked the door. She waited until he walked farther into the room, and then perched on the edge of the brick fireplace to watch him spread out towels on the end of the bed. Her cheeks matched the robe—she was scared too—and he warmed at the connection to her he’d had from the very first time he’d seen her as a little boy. Neighbors before the Crux had hit, they hadn’t left each other’s side once their world had turned to nightmares. She was his best friend…his life. He eyed Ross as he smoothed his hand over a second layer of towels. Ross was his life too. He was everything to them both.

Ross watched until curiosity must have gotten the best of him. “What’s up?”

“If I’m freeing you from the confines of this room tomorrow,” Dorian said, warming his hands by rubbing them together, “I’m going to make sure you’re ready.” He couldn’t stop the quick smile that snuck onto his face.

Narrowing his eyes, Ross tugged the sheet over himself as he rolled to his side. Dorian didn’t know why he covered himself. He’d insisted on wearing shorts since the first morning.

“I could have gotten up and walked out of here days ago,” Ross growled. “I only stayed because you said please.”

Dorian stopped, rolled his eyes. “No, I threatened to start the wound-cleaning process from the beginning.”

The corner of Ross’s gorgeous mouth turned up. “Yeah, there was that too.” He sighed and slowly eased onto his back. “It’s nice to be on something other than my stomach. I’ve never stayed this still so long before.”

“We know.” Jenna tugged her robe sash tighter. “You’ve been an ass.”

Ross closed his eyes. “Sorry. You guys don’t deserve to take the brunt of my frustration. I’m just ready for action. I’m sick of lying here.”

Dorian sent Jenna a quick glance and didn’t miss the way her cheeks turned darker at Ross’s mention of action.

“So, what’s with the towels?” A thread of trepidation laced Ross’s deep voice and again Dorian had to smother a grimace from the nerves eating up his insides.

Because this was it.

After today, Ross would be clear about how Jenna and Dorian felt and he could either go for it, or run. And Dorian was terrified running would mess up the family he cherished more than anything.

“You’ve been lying immobile for a long time, so a muscle rubdown will get your nerves firing, help promote faster healing and bring some flexibility back.”

Ross shifted under the sheet, obviously uncomfortable. “My flexibility is fine. We don’t need to do this.”

Dorian met his eyes. “Yes, we do.” He crooked his finger. “Come over here and lose the shorts. I made new oil just for you. You’ll love it.”

“I’m not losing the shorts.”

“I like those shorts, and they’ll get destroyed, so stop being a baby. You can lie on your stomach to preserve your modesty, okay?”

Grumbling, Ross reached under the sheet and winced when he started to tug off his shorts.

Jenna jumped up. “Here, let me help.”

“No!”

All three of them jumped when Ross yelled. Dorian watched as red crept up Ross’s neck. “I didn’t mean to scream at you. I can do it myself, okay? Lock the door so none of the kids come running in and find me bare-assed naked.”

“Dorian already locked the door,” Jenna said, her voice low.

It took him forever, but Ross got his shorts off under the sheet, then he shuffled across the king-sized bed to the bottom. He rolled onto his stomach, still hanging onto the sheet.

Dorian left the cover at Ross’s waist for the moment, and picked up the bottle, drizzling a good amount of oil on his palms. He rubbed his hands together to warm the oil, then put his hands on Ross’s back. Already tense muscles went taut beneath his hands. Dorian pushed into them, loving the sheen of oil on Ross’s skin in the firelight. He nodded toward the lamp, and Jenna switched it off before returning to her perch in front of the fireplace.

She had a front row seat to every expression that crossed Ross’s face and from the sound of his moans, Dorian was sure he didn’t want to see him yet. His groin had already gone heavy and hot just from rubbing his hands along slippery, warm skin.

He pressed and prodded and slid along muscles, paying attention to areas that felt tight. Finally, Ross started to relax, so Dorian moved to his legs, tucking the sheet around Ross’s bare ass, and slowly sliding his palms over muscular calves and thighs. The textures were so different from Jenna. She had tight, strong and lean muscles from trekking through the woods, working out. Her skin was smooth, soft. Hair covered Ross’s legs, his muscles larger, harder. Very different textures, yet Dorian’s body reacted just as strongly to both. He picked up Ross’s foot, massaged deep into the instep.

“I take back every sadist remark,” Ross murmured in a pleased, sleepy rumble. “You have a gift from the gods.”

Chuckling, Dorian worked Ross until he was completely relaxed and at his mercy. And Jenna’s. He looked at her, and saw fire in her eyes hotter than the blaze behind her.

“Remember Ross at eighteen, Jenna?” Dorian moved up and worked on Ross’s shoulders, loving the slide of oil over hot skin. If he’d had any doubts about desiring another man, they were completely gone now. His dick was standing at the ready, aching. “At eighteen, Ross went through that last growth spurt—shot up half a foot. He was a bumbling anthropoid.”

Ross lifted his head, turned it and raised one eyebrow. He missed Dorian’s rock-hard prick because Dorian shifted to the side, not sure Ross was ready for that much “in your face” reality.

Grinning, Dorian reached out and ran one finger down Ross’s spine, stopping at the base where the sheet covered him. “Don’t worry, you grew into this body nicely.”

Ross’s brow couldn’t go any higher. His mouth opened slightly.

Taking his life into his hands, Dorian met that icy blue gaze, stretched out his fingers and slid his palm under the edge of that sheet. Ross’s skin, smooth and hot from being so close to the fireplace, caused Dorian’s blood to rush south even harder. He didn’t think his dick could ache any more than it had been. He was wrong. He pulled his gaze from Ross to look at Jenna.

Her eyes were wide but she didn’t take them away from the mound of Dorian’s hand under that sheet and on Ross’s perfect ass. She sucked her lower lip between her teeth and Dorian groaned. Her robe had slipped open to show one satiny breast, her nipple pebble hard.

Need swamped Dorian. He didn’t know who caused it more—Jenna or Ross. Didn’t matter either. He’d known for a while that Ross was theirs. He thought maybe he’d been waiting years for Jenna to bring it up first. The man belonged to them.

Since he hadn’t moved to dislodge Dorian’s hand, maybe the big guy knew it as well. Either that or he was so horny, any human touch would be welcome.

Jenna, motionless as a deer in headlights, whispered, “Lose the sheet. I want to see.”

With that, Ross shut his eyes tight and shifted on the bed. Dorian recognized the move. Ross was hard. But he wasn’t shutting things down. In fact, he seemed too overcome by emotion to do anything but lie there and take it.

Rubbing his palm soothingly on that nice, firm ass, Dorian took the top of the sheet in his free hand and peeled it off. He’d seen this body before. They both had. For years, it had been just the three of them and sometimes while in hiding, privacy was given up for efficiency. But it had been a long time. And yes, over the last week, they’d seen him naked.

But this was different. So fucking different.

Firelight played over firm muscles as Ross shifted again. He buried his face in his arms, a muffled groan sounding as if it had been ripped from his throat.

His hair had grown longer on this last run and before Dorian realized what he was doing, he was wiping his hands on a towel and bending over that long back to bury the fingers of both his hands in that silky, disheveled hair. He pressed his cheek on the smooth, hot skin of Ross’s back.

Jenna’s breath caught loudly. She was being unnaturally quiet and he would have grinned if his dick hadn’t been so hard it hurt—if the emotions racing through his head and heart weren’t swamping everything else.

He turned his head and pressed his lips to Ross’s back. The bigger man went still. Dorian could feel the hard beat of Ross’s heart here, under the skin, pulsing against his lips. Lifting his head, he pressed another kiss to Ross’s back, then another. He buried his nose in the back of his neck and pulled his scent in deep. The sandalwood worked on him—spicy, woodsy and all male.

Ross released a hoarse cry and like that, turned onto his back and grabbed Dorian’s head. They stared at each other for long, intense seconds before Ross dropped his gaze to Dorian’s mouth. He groaned and pulled Dorian’s head down with heady strength. Their lips slanted together with force and this time, Dorian groaned. Ross had been sucking on one of those damned peppermint sticks he loved. And that Dorian hated.

But the taste here, in Ross’s mouth, was finer than the aged brandy Dorian preferred over whiskey.

Dorian slid his tongue deep into Ross’s mouth, searching for every last taste of peppermint, finding it and the darker, exotic flavor that was pure Ross. He knew that his hair blocked a lot of this from Jenna’s sight but apparently it didn’t matter, because he could hear her small, excited noises.

Ross pulled Dorian’s head back enough to meet his eyes. Their breath mingled under the curtain of his hair. Ross slid his fingers through that hair with a groan, letting enough firelight in to make his light eyes glitter. “More. Touch me again.”

The naked, desperate need in those eyes stabbed into Dorian’s heart. A flash of nerves, painful and hesitant, rushed through him.

Ross’s need ran so deep, Dorian was suddenly afraid they’d hurt him. Somehow make him leave.
No
. He shook his head.

Ross misunderstood the gesture, Dorian realized, when the other man’s hands fell from his head, when gut-deep hurt flooded those beautiful blue eyes.