One Ring (Suncoast Society #28)(29)

Under her, Don took a couple of last hard thrusts before falling still, too.

Her trembling turned into silent, rhythmic gulps, and then he realized she was crying.

Worried, he brushed her hair away from her face. “Baby, are you okay?”

She nodded, pressing her face against Don’s chest as the sobs wracked her.

Don exchanged a worried glance with him. He quickly pulled out, raced to clean up and then hurried back, crawling into bed with them.

She was sobbing, gut-wrenching tears that ripped him apart from the inside out. Had they hurt her? Pushed her too far?

Holy f*ck, please don’t let us have screwed this up!

She gasped something, but he couldn’t understand what she said. “Baby, what it is? What did we do?”

“Thank you,” she finally managed. Over and over again, she said, “Thank you, thank you…”

They held her as she cried, not even caring that to safely wedge her between them meant they were holding each other, too. She was most important right now, and Carl was relieved to see Don felt the same way.

She took several gulps of air before finally pulling herself together. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you so much.”

“Are you okay?” Don asked. “Did we hurt you?”

She rolled toward him, grabbed him, and gave him what looked like a hard, deep kiss. Then she turned back to Carl and did the same thing. Yes, a deep kiss, her tongue f*cking his mouth.

“Let’s go out to the hot tub,” she suggested. “Not sure I can walk alone, but I want to snuggle with you two.”

“But you’re okay?”

She stared into his eyes, laying a hand along his cheek. “I’m the best I’ve ever been in my whole goddamned life. I just wish I hadn’t wasted fifteen years to get here.”





Only once they were in the hot tub and her brain had finally started to come down and settle back in her head again did she realize she’d scared the men with her tears.

Fair enough, because her tears had caught her totally by surprise, too. She didn’t know why she’d cried. Relief that someone—two someones—actually wanted her the way she was, for who she was? Satisfaction?

The overwhelming wonder of caring, human contact?

She didn’t know.

She settled low in the water between them. “Sorry I scared you,” she said.

She had her fingers laced through theirs, Carl on her right, Don on her left.

“We thought we’d hurt you,” Don said.

“You didn’t hurt me, Sir.”

“You don’t have to call us Sir when we’re not playing,” Carl told her.

“What if I want to?”

She sensed the men sharing a glance over her head.

Don squeezed her hand. “What are you asking?”

“If you’re both okay with it, I want to formally be your submissive. I don’t want to play with anyone but you two. I don’t want to be with anyone but you. If you two are okay sharing me. Please don’t make me choose between you. If it’s going to be a problem, tell me now before I invest any more of my heart than I already have.”

“We won’t make you choose,” Carl said.

“We promise,” Don added.

She took a deep, relieved breath and closed her eyes, pulling their hands up to her chest and holding them there. “Thank you,” she said.

They stayed in there, mostly not talking, for another twenty minutes before she started yawning. No, it wasn’t super late, and she hadn’t even eaten dinner yet, but she was exhausted. The men helped her get out, dried her off, and left her curled up in a blanket on the couch while they donned shorts and prepared leftovers for dinner. Then, nestled between them, she dozed off after dinner, her head in Don’s lap, her feet in Carl’s.





Don brushed the hair away from her face. “Dude,” he whispered, “you want to know the irony?”

“You finally met the woman you’d be willing to risk half your shit on, and we have to share her.”

Don smiled as he nodded. “And you know what else?”

“You don’t mind sharing her. Because I don’t mind sharing her with you, either.”

He looked up and met Carl’s gaze. “How did we get into this?”

Carl shrugged. “I think some of Tilly and Eliza’s matchmaking skills have worn off on Marcia through osmosis. I couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect for us than her. I’m glad we waited. That was the right thing to do, even though it was a helluva case of blue balls.”

“I did not think she was going to take her dress off out there,” Don said. “I was sure she’d say no or blow it off as a joke.”

“I’m glad she didn’t blow it off.”

“Me, either.” He leaned back, resting his head against the back of the couch. “Wake me up in a little while.”

“Where are we sleeping tonight?”

“Wherever she wants us to,” he said. “Even if we’re all piled together in my bed, I’m cool with whatever she wants to do.”

“Me, too.”





When she awoke a little disorientated a while later, she realized she was still on the couch…