Penny tips her head back and intuition deeper than the ocean sends me and Nick stooping low, our lips trailing from the curve of her shoulder to the notch of her throat, playing tug of war with her lower body. What is happening here? I should be beating him bloody for touching what’s mine.
“You both made me feel protected. Like I wasn’t alone. Don’t you understand? I need both of you,” Penny says, gasping at the contact of our mouths. “And I’m not leaving here unless you can give me that.”
CHAPTER TWO
Penny
I expected it to take a little more convincing, but once I issued the ultimatum, Nick and Zeke nodded—stiffly, of course—and boosted me back into the house so I could pack my bags and leave a goodbye note for my aunt. It’s a cop out. I really should speak to her face to face. But my father put distance between him and his sister, same way he created a divide between us, so she’ll probably be relieved not to have a virtual stranger in her house anymore. Most of my things are either smoke damaged or in storage now, so it didn’t take long to collect my meager wardrobe, my fashion portfolio and school books.
We flipped a coin to decide whose truck I would ride in—Nick won—and after a silent but charged ride, we’ve arrived at Nick’s house.
As I walk up the stone path leading to the front door, flanked by Nick and Zeke, the spontaneity of what I’m doing begins to hit me. I’ve just snuck out of my aunt’s house to be with men I’ve only known a week. I’ve been living with my overprotective father so long, this should seem like more of a risk. But it doesn’t.
I feel as if I’ve known them forever.
At least I did until they started kissing my neck, their big hands moving on my hips and waist, stopping just above my sex. Both of these men want me. Badly. There was no mistaking the erections they rubbed against my hips, or the rasping breaths they took next to my ears. Am I going to lose my virginity tonight?
“Next time, we go to my apartment,” Zeke says, throwing himself into a lean beside the front door. “It’s not always going to be your house.”
“There’s more space here,” Nick clips, inserting the key into the lock with precise movements. “You need space for the fucking chip on your shoulder, don’t you?”
Zeke shrugs. “Maybe you need it for your pacemaker.”
“I can call an Uber at any time, you know,” I say, stepping in between them. “No more fighting or we won’t be staying in either place.”
The grinding of their jaws is audible as we walk inside. Nick’s house is exactly like I would expect. Everything is neat and tasteful, grays and forest greens. No clutter, nothing so personal as a throw blanket or family photo. It’s bare, but it’s clean and welcoming and safe. “I like it,” I whisper, sliding my hand into Nick’s.
He tugs me up against him and lowers his mouth to mine—
Zeke wraps an arm around me from behind, tucking me back into the curve of his lap. Nick doesn’t like that. With a growl, he goes heavy on the kiss, parting my lips with a determined tongue, the chafe of his beard abrading my chin. And holy God, I never imagined a kiss like this. It sends a ripple through me, shooting electricity to all my extremities at once. From behind me, Zeke sinks tiny bites into my shoulder, sending a low but insistent current to the place inside my panties. But I can’t concentrate or enjoy anything, because I feel the tension radiating between them. It’s resentful and angry and raw.
I pull away from the kiss and dance out of their reach, leaving them panting and aroused, like two deprived beasts. “Maybe we need to set some ground rules?”
Nick swipes the back of his wrist across his mouth. “Not a bad idea.”
Zeke adjusts the bulge in his pants. “Never wanted anyone or anything this goddamn bad, Penny. I don’t like someone else’s hands on you.”
“I hate it, too,” Nick rasps. “Mine.”
They bare their teeth at each other and seem prepared to fight, until I say, “Don’t you want me to feel good?”
“Yes,” Zeke hisses.
Nick nods hard. “More than anything.”
“I’m new at this. I’m new at…men, in general. And now I have two.” I grasp the hem of my nightshirt and pull it over my head, leaving me in nothing but a pair of white panties. Self-consciousness tries to take hold, but it fades fast when both men unzip their pants with low, strangled groans and begin touching themselves while looking at me. “Try and remember the other man is making me feel good, too. I love Nick’s kiss, but I also love Zeke’s hands. I need both. Both make me feel special. You want that, don’t you?”