“Alllllice. My sweet girl.” Henry’s breath warmed her ear.
She grunted into the pillow. It felt early. Opening her eyes to check the time would take too much effort, but it felt early.
“I thought we might enjoy the sunrise.”
Was he joking? That would make it, what, five o’clock? On a Sunday morning. Was this really something she needed to be awake for?
“Sleeping,” she mumbled. “Take Jay.”
A hard cock pressed into the small of her back. “I’m taking you, my dear.”
She squirmed, her hips pressing back of their own accord. A sexy wake-up call appealed, so long as she didn’t have to move too much. Or open her eyes.
A chuckle rolled from across the room.
“Not this time, Alice.” Jay sounded awake. Like, awake-awake, not just-rolled-out-of-bed awake. “I’m on my own this morning.”
She cracked open an eyelid. One of the lamps brightened the room. Somewhere behind her, thankfully, not the one in front of her face.
Jay had donned biking gear, tight little shorts and one of his sweat-wicking T-shirts. Damn. Sorry she’d slept through him dressing.
He stepped closer to the bed and tapped the nightstand twice with his palm. “But I left you all the gear you’ll need.”
She tipped her head back. Her brain took a moment to interpret the dark outline beside his hand. Binoculars. She snorted. Figured he hadn’t been kidding. “Bird-watching?”
“Bird-watching,” Jay confirmed. “Have fun with that. I’ll be flying down hills.”
“And crawling back up them,” she grumbled at him. Teasing him was too enjoyable to pass up. “So have fun with that.”
“I will.” Bending down, he kissed her cheek and Henry’s. “See you both later.”
“Don’t forget to grab your bag from the kitchen. I’ve packed high-energy snacks for you.” Henry leaned over her shoulder to kiss Jay more thoroughly. “Be safe. Call if you run into trouble.”
Jay promised to bike safely, be back around lunchtime, and call if he’d be late. And then he was gone, wide-awake and eager and out the door. At five in the morning. He’d grown up rural, even more than she had. He might miss biking less-traveled roads, even with all the hours he spent roaming city streets.
Henry descended on her shoulder, nipping and biting with gentle tugs. Parts of her were definitely waking up.
“Are we really going bird-watching?”
“Mmm.” He sucked at the cord of muscle running up toward her neck. “We’re really going outside, Alice. What you watch while we’re there is entirely your choice.” He rolled away, and his feet thudded against the floor. “Best bring the binoculars in case you want them, though.”
A drawer opened, and a zipper, and the sliding doors to the deck. Footsteps faded and returned. The lamp switched off, leaving the room bathed in pale predawn light.
The binoculars landed beside her chest. “Hold these, my dear.”
She’d hardly gotten her fingers around the strap when she was scooped up, blanket and all. He carried her out, pausing to let her tug the screen door closed behind them. A few minutes’ work had them settled in a deck chair, the binoculars on the table beside them along with Henry’s cellphone and a sketch pad and pencils.
Yesterday they’d gone inside and played in bed with Jay. Henry obviously had something else in mind today. Being naked and in his lap boded well. Except Henry had thrown on a robe. Soft and warm as it was, it wasn’t him. She’d much rather touch skin to skin, especially if she was going to be woken up and dragged outside so early on a non-workday.
Yawning, she rested her face near his neck. He tucked the blanket around her shoulders with care before slipping his arms beneath.
“It’s all right to sleep, Alice, though I do hope you’ll enjoy this.” He clasped her waist in a gentle squeeze. “Perhaps such an early arousal on vacation is a bit much to ask of my sleeping beauty after a late night.” His voice vibrated in her ear. “Do you see the light beginning its journey?”
The deck faced south-southeast, out over the lake. The edge of the sun invisible yet, but its effects made its presence known—the lightening sky, the orange-and-purple tint, the calls of birds in the morning mist.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Predictable,” Henry murmured.
A boring word, yet he’d said it with approval. The way she might when a materials test returned the result she’d expected—the proper tolerance for heat or weight or other stresses the design demanded—and a project could move forward.
“Predictable?”
“Mm-hmm. Predictable. Sunrise. Predictable in its timing. In its path.” His stroke across her stomach lengthened, his palm running up and over her breast, and she shivered. “We know where and when it will occur every day. It keeps no secrets. It spills its light across the earth with a steady hand.”
He swept down again, not stopping at her stomach but rolling over the top of her thigh. She parted her legs in answer to his unspoken demand.
“Fingers first, Alice.” He stroked the inside of her thigh.
She clutched fistfuls of his robe.
“The smallest rays of light, tentative tendrils creeping across the landscape, outlining what they find there.”
His touch matched his words, slow and light, tracing the outline of her sex, the outer lips as they swelled, the inner concealing the slickness building within. Jesus. She’d never look at sunrise the same way.
“And all the while, the sun is rising. Its reach is growing. Steady and patient.” He nuzzled her neck with soft kisses. “It knows time is on its side.”
Henry, her sun, imposing his will on the land below. Mmm. The sweet compulsion and confidence she loved. “Because the sun knows it always wins. Every day the landscape submits.”
He tapped her clitoris, and her hips jumped. “This isn’t about winning, my dear girl. Not like that.”
Returning to soothing strokes, he teased the seam of her lips and parted her with slow attention. “The sun offers light and warmth, and the earth responds with a welcoming embrace. The flowers turn to greet the day, their petals opening.”
He added more pressure, opening her, eagerness seizing her as he circled her entrance with a single finger. “Their nectar sweetly flowing.”
He thrust. One hand held her hips down as the other moved. He pumped steadily, quick to add a second finger. “Watch the lake, sweet girl. When the sun crests the horizon, the water ripples and shines like colored glass.”
She turned obedient eyes toward the lake, though her mind fell prey to Henry’s fingers within her and his hard cock pressing from the other side, his robe between them.
He abandoned her hips for her stomach, sliding over the curl-covered curve that led to fiery bliss. He rubbed her clitoris with lazy strokes while his fingers inside her increased their speed. She whimpered at the contrast.
The sun reached its tipping point, a broad curve almost too much to watch, at the southeastern end of the lake. The light spread across the water, burning away the morning mist, leaving shining reflections to sparkle and dance.
“Oh! It’s beautiful, Henry.” Her words emerged in a breathy rasp, her mouth too dry and her breath too short for anything else.
“Beautiful. Predictable. The sun spills itself out across land and water every morning. Always the same. And never the same.” He spoke directly into her ear, a hushed, urgent rumble, as he drew her closer to climax. “A unique beauty each and every time. A fresh palette of colors. The earth stretches, and wakes, and breathes—”
Tension tightened her limbs. Her breath stopped in the split second between need and fulfillment. His fingers pushed her forward, made her body wake for him. Her cries rivaled the birds. Her hips rocked with more speed than the waves lapping at the lakeshore. Unfettered exuberance rippled as if she were what Henry named her, a landscape of natural, wild beauty.
She trembled with aftershocks.
Resting his hands on her thighs, he pressed his lips above her ear. “And begins every day with a glorious climax stirring everything touched by the sun’s heat.” His quiet chuckle tickled. “Good morning, Alice.”
“Henry?” Jumbled thoughts coalesced. The sunrise this morning. The way he made every moment special, memorable.
“Yes, my sweet girl?”
His words and his touch stirred something deeper than lust. Nothing before had come close to the intensity of her life with Henry and Jay. I was sleeping. And now I’m not.
“Thank you for waking me up.” She managed a shaky, intimate whisper.
His hum told her she’d pleased him, though long moments passed before he spoke. “I find great joy in it, Alice. Thank you for trusting me enough to allow it.”
She twisted sideways and pressed kisses to his neck.
He patted her thigh and encouraged her to turn fully, helping her shuffle and wiggle and slide until she’d settled herself straddling his hips. The heat of his erection radiated between her legs. Her movements had dislodged his robe. The knotted belt served no purpose, not with the fabric gaping. She nudged her hips forward, her weight on his cock drawing a sharp breath from Henry.
“Can I have this, too?” She teased with her smile, folding her arms across his chest.
“There are condoms in the pockets of my robe, Alice.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I certainly wasn’t saving them for anyone else.”
Score. She quested for a condom. If it necessitated shifting her weight while she dug for the pockets, and if that meant she rocked against his erection, well that was hardly her fault, was it?
She smirked.
The blanket slipped down her back as she sat up.
He smirked.
But she found a condom all too quickly, and he allowed her to unroll it over him herself, his hand holding his cock steady at the base. They’d been skin to skin a moment ago. And when he’d slid between her thighs yesterday in the shower. Henry. Not latex.
Even the thrill of being on top, of watching her body accept him as she sank onto his cock, didn’t silence the voice in her head. This power belonged to her. She sat flush against him, tightening and releasing muscles to enjoy his thickness buried inside her. Feeling him bare would be negotiable, wouldn’t it? Surely he wanted to forgo condoms, too.
He watched her with narrowed eyes, though that might be the sun. Her body blocked a slice of the light. She might have a halo, her outline backlit by the rising sun. Maybe he allowed her to ride him for the aesthetic high.
His reason for granting her power remained irrelevant to her pursuit. The important things numbered two. One, she had him pinned under her. Two, she intended to give up condoms for good.
Steadying her weight with her hands on his shoulders, she rose and sank. Henry cupped her ass. She repeated the motion and touched her tongue to her lips.
“Henry, you know I’m consistent about taking my birth control pills.” Ease into it, nice and slow. Like a lazy morning fuck in a deck chair. “And we’ve been monogamous for months. Most of a year.”
“Polyamorous.”
“What?” His quick response hadn’t been in her script.
“The word you want is polyamorous. A closed, faithful poly relationship. A triad, if you like.” Gripping her ass tight, he interrupted her rhythm with a sharp upward thrust.
Fuck, he was fantastic and thick and—no. Focus. Get to the point before he fucked her brains out.
“Okay. Polyamorous. Whatever we’re calling it, I have the pregnancy issue covered and there’s no threat of disease. So, I want—” God that felt good. She rocked harder, grinding her pelvis down and relishing the pressure against her clit. “I want us to stop using condoms.”
He spread his hands wide, lifting her ass and letting her slide down his cock from her own weight. Unhurried, he slipped fingers beneath her and stroked her sex from behind. “You’ve given the practical reasons why condoms are unnecessary, but I have yet to hear why you wish to eliminate them.”
“Don’t you?” She’d assumed he’d jump at the chance. Every other guy had pressured her to give them up, and she’d refused every time. But Henry had never been like every other guy.
“Ah—that isn’t the issue, Alice. Tell me why you desire this change.” He brushed her with a fluttering touch where their bodies joined. Rubbing, back and forth, spreading her slick lubrication.
“Because I—because—” Fuck. Her train of thought derailed between Henry’s cock and his fingers. “Wouldn’t it be better?”
“For myself and Jay, or for you, dearest?”
“Both. Right?”
He wore his patiently-waiting face. His fingers stilled. His cock stood hard but at rest within her. She might be on top, but he owned the pace. He’d make her wait until he had his answers.
“Because I’ve never, umm…” Sighing, she struggled to put her certainty into words. “I guess because I trust you. I love you, and I want to feel your skin sliding against me, and I want to feel you climaxing inside me. I never let anyone—I didn’t trust them enough or feel comfortable enough.” A wash of heat covered her shoulders and swept down her back, excitement and embarrassment too intertwined to separate. “And you might let Jay’s tongue play washcloth sometimes if we didn’t have a latex-and-spermicide aftertaste.”
Henry surprised her with a fierce kiss, lifting his legs and rocking her forward. Raising a hand to her head, he drew her closer for a harsh clash of lips and pushed his tongue into her mouth the instant she opened to him.
Growling, he let her go.
She panted to catch her breath.
“Those are fine reasons, Alice. You have the loveliest thoughts.” He stroked her back, encouraging her to sit up, settling her weight across his lap once more. “I’ll think on your suggestion. Will you think on one for me, as well?”
“Of course I will.” Whatever the proposal, he wouldn’t force her to accept his view. He’d only ask she consider it.
“Without impugning your responsible nature, if I may point out, pills are a daily method prone to error and sensitive to timing.” Slowly, he traced the slope of her pelvis and cradled her lower abdomen. He blew out a breath and glided his hands to her breasts, gentle and firm at once, thumbs rubbing. “Unless you’ve a wish for a child soon—in which case we’ve other things to discuss—you might consider a more long-term management method.”
“What, you mean a patch? Or shots?” She let the mention of motherhood slip by. No fucking way she’d entertain a discussion of that now. In a decade. Or never. No matter how much she liked the tender way he held her.
“More long-term than that, dearest. An implant or an IUD, perhaps. Something proven reliable and requiring no action on your part to maintain.”
She’d nixed them before because of the upfront investment and the rarity of partnered sex in her nights. But now she got laid more every month than she had in some years. Work insurance would cover the cost. She wouldn’t have to worry about slipups.
“I’ll make an appointment. To talk over the options.” A small concession. If finding a method that worked as well as her pill with less effort convinced Henry of her safety enough to go condom-free…so worth the switch.
“Lovely.” Holding her steady, he leaned in and kissed her, his mouth slow and sure.
She rocked in his lap, moaning each time he flexed his hips. The sun warmed her back, and the blanket covered nothing but Henry’s legs behind her.
“Hold on to me, dearest.”
She gripped his shoulders, balancing her weight.
He spread his hands and clasped her ass. Lifted her. Let her fall. The angle put pressure on her clit, created friction as her flesh dragged along his, made her hips jump and her thighs clench and her body respond with a ready rush of new lubrication.
“That’s it, Alice, my sweet girl.” He slipped his hold lower with every thrust, until she alone controlled their movement. “You know the rhythm you want.”
She pushed herself, chasing the building need, the excitement of his reactions adding to her own. The way he stared into her eyes. The way his lips parted and his chest expanded as his breathing grew rapid.
He jerked his hips beneath her in counterpoint, as if he couldn’t hold still any longer when her body gripped him so. He stroked with firm pressure, his left hand holding her open to him while his right moved, fingers slick, rubbing and circling and Jesus was he going to—
Eyes closing, back arching, she shuddered. Her orgasm came hard and fast and violent, astonishment and pleasure rolling through her in equal measure. Henry groaned, clutching her painfully, holding their bodies together as he gave three hard thrusts.
She collapsed onto his chest. Moving would be impossible, which suited her fine. His every breath resonated in her bones. As did his finger inside her. Alongside his cock. Not where she’d thought he’d go, but fireworks-worthy nonetheless. Fullness and pressure. She’d been so sure this time, and her certainty had brought on her climax.
She burrowed her face against his neck. Her body shivered in reaction. She wanted him in her ass. Fingers. Toys. Whatever he preferred to start with. However he’d played with Jay that ended with a blissful look of love and trust and incredible pleasure.
He shifted, coaxing her hips up. She feared he’d insist they go inside and clean up when she yearned for cuddling, but he stripped off the condom and pulled his robe across his lap before pressing her back down. He wrapped the condom in a tissue and laid it on the side table.
“Henry?”
“Hmm?” He reached past her, grasping the edge of the blanket and tugging it over her back.
“You’ve been—all weekend—you’ve—your fingers—” For fuck’s sake, was she a scared virgin? About anal, yeah, okay. Even if she wanted it. “You’ve been awfully handsy with my ass.”
“Handsy, my dear? Is that a euphemism for fondling? Caressing? Rubbing?” He trailed his fingers down her back.
She squirmed.
The movement stopped. “Does it make you uncomfortable, Alice?”
“I—no. Not uncomfortable, exactly.” Not at all, exactly.
“What, exactly, sweet girl?”
“You haven’t, I mean, you’ve teased, but you haven’t…penetrated.”
“Ah.” His slow turn brought his mouth in line with her ear. “Did you want me to?”
He’d dropped into the deep rumble that made her shiver from the inside out.
“I think yes.” The thrill of saying it, of admitting it, quaked in her gut.
“Good.” He kissed her forehead. Sliding one hand up her spine, he cradled her ass more tightly against him with the other. “We’ll play new games soon.”
“You always do that.”
“Do what, dearest?”
“Wait. Wait for us to ask. To say what we want.” From the very first night. He would’ve walked away if she hadn’t asked for what she wanted. Even if he wanted it too.
“It means more to me to know you want the things I offer you, Alice.”
He pushed her, sometimes. Prodded. Tested her reactions.
“That you accept them not only willingly but eagerly.”
He never moved forward unless he was certain she felt ready. Confidence, caution, and care. Her Henry. She squeezed him tight.
* * * *
“I don’t think we’re gonna eat outside today.”
The rain came down in fits and starts, stray drops pinging off the windows and beading up on the deck. The sustained patter grew into a steady drumming. Wind whipped the trees. Anyone hosting a Memorial Day picnic on Sunday afternoon was destined for disappointment.
“No, it seems not, my dear.”
She wandered back to the kitchen. If Henry’s presence wasn’t lure enough, the eggplant parmesan bubbling in the oven smelled intoxicating. The garlic butter he slathered on a split baguette loaf added to the enticement.
They’d spent most of the morning cuddling on the deck, but that didn’t stop her from pressing herself to his back now. No such thing as too much touching. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder. “Big lunch.”
Chuckling, he kissed her cheek. “Half of it will disappear into Jay’s stomach once he finishes his shower. And a large, late lunch eliminates the need for supper. A light snack later will suffice to keep your energy up.”
Mmm. They’d expended lots of energy at sunrise. He might have more games in store for them tonight. “I like things that keep you up, too.”
His soft snort rippled his stomach under her arms. “You and Jay do that quite well on your own.”
“What do I do well?” Jay called to them from the bedroom doorway. “Aside from everything, I mean.”
She burst into laughter. Not at his words. She wouldn’t have expected less from confident comedian Jay, and he was in fine form. But she’d mistakenly assumed he might, at the very least, dress himself.
He strode out to the kitchen naked. “What?”
She shook her head, wheezing as she attempted to catch her breath.
“Henry said I should clean up.” Jay shot them a sly smile. “He’ll wanna inspect the job I did.”
“In a moment, my boy.” Henry finished anointing the garlic bread.
She released him and stepped back, her laughter coming under control.
He tented the bread with foil and swapped it for the eggplant, adjusting the oven temperature. “Very well. We have fifteen minutes until lunch.”
Jay grinned. Henry stepped out from behind the kitchen counter. She rested her elbows on top and leaned forward, waiting for the show.
“Stand straight. Arms out.” Henry delivered precise commands in a deep voice. “Feet spread.”
Jay jumped to comply, standing like a living da Vinci drawing. His chest rose and fell as Henry circled him. God, he was the most beautiful boy. Long, lean muscles. Squeaky clean from his shower. She licked her lips, a bid to make him blush, and Henry winked at her over Jay’s shoulder.
“Let’s see how you’ve done.” He ran his finger down the curve of Jay’s ear. Flicked the earlobe. “Did you wash behind your ears, my boy?”
“Yes, Henry.”
Henry leaned in and traced the same line with his tongue.
Jay’s breath stuttered.
“Mmm. So you did. Well done.” He ran his hands along the tops of Jay’s arms. Over the gently rounded biceps. The sloping forearms. The farther Henry stretched his arms, the closer he stepped to Jay’s back. He slipped his hands under Jay’s and curled the fingers upward. “Beneath your fingernails?”
“Yes, Henry.” Jay etched anticipation in every syllable.
Henry hummed. “I’ll require a closer look to be certain.” He bent Jay’s arms inward, bringing his hands above his shoulders. “No obvious dirt particles. A taste test will tell us the full tale.”
One digit at a time, from pinky to thumb, disappeared between Henry’s lips and emerged sucked clean. Whining like an anxious puppy, Jay scrunched his eyes shut.
He scraped his teeth across his lower lip and swallowed hard. His pose pushed his chest forward. Sparse black hair formed a soft, swirling T down his abdomen, past the rib cage heaving with his breath. The ridges of muscle alongside his narrow, boyish waist led straight to his erect cock jumping with excitement.
Arousing. Sweet. Jay in two words.
Lucky bastard. Also Jay in two words. Affection, not jealousy, smoldered in her chest as Henry pressed himself to Jay’s back and murmured in his ear. She bathed in the exquisite empathy of one who’d stood in the same position filled with desperate desire, the urgent need to please.
Jay raised his arms straight up, and Henry inspected his sides. Checking for cleanliness required slow strokes from the curve of Jay’s underarms along his ribs to his waist. Henry held him in a tight grip, his fingers pushing into sleek skin. Jay’s cock bobbed against his stomach.
She breathed out easy and left her arousal to simmer. She’d had Henry to herself all morning. Jay hadn’t gotten laid today. If he wanted attention, time with Henry’s hands and mouth on his body, he deserved Henry’s indulgence.
Pushing forward, she hugged the counter. The edge dug into her stomach the way Henry’s table had in August. She’d stretched across a vast expanse and waited to see what he’d do. What she’d given him permission to do to her.
Henry spanned those sweet ridges of muscle arrowing toward Jay’s cock. Told him what a good, clean boy he was while Jay emitted near-silent whimpers.
She vibrated with readiness to carry out any task he might ask of her. The words she ached to hear went something like fetch the lube from the bedroom, my dear, and we’ll see if our boy looks as happy as you do when bent over the table and fucked.
Henry raised his mouth from Jay’s neck.
She bounced on her toes. Ready for anything. Commands, demands, requests, suggestions. Whatever he wanted, the instant he wanted it.
Henry opened his mouth.
A shrill ring sent her bolting upright.
Jay groaned.
“That’s time, my dears.” Henry nodded toward her. “Alice, turn off the timer and rescue the garlic bread from the oven, please. It seems we’re ready to eat.”
Holy fuck. No more showtime? But—but the table. It was right there. And Jay was right there. And she wanted to see—
The timer rang again.
“Alice, the bread, please.”
“Right. Right. Sorry, I’m on it.” Her back protested the bending to retrieve the goods. Ugh. Too much exercise yesterday. Overexertion had settled in her muscles. She turned off the oven and set the pan on the stove.
Cock wilting, Jay heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I love garlic bread. Who knew it could be such a buzz kill.”
“Vampires,” Henry deadpanned.
Jay snorted. She followed suit. Their eyes caught. Grins widened. Heads shook.
“Go and throw on some clothes, please, my boy. I declare you clean enough for lunch.” Henry patted Jay’s ass and sent him on his way. Jay made it four steps before Henry called after him, “Do try to stay clean. I’ll finish my inspection this evening, and I would hate for you to fail the taste test below the waist.”
Jay whooped and slapped the top of the bedroom door frame as he passed through.
* * * *
She woke blinking and yawning and stiff.
“Don’t move, please, Alice,” Henry whispered.
The quiet, steady rhythm of breathing in her dark-haired mattress proved Jay still asleep. She left her head on her crossed arms atop his shoulder blades and opened her eyes.
The stacks of board games and the jigsaw puzzle they’d found to entertain themselves after lunch waited to be returned to their cabinet. Jay rested beneath her on the rug in front of the half-finished puzzle.
Henry overlooked them from the nearest chair, a sketch pad balanced against the curve of his left arm. The scratch of his pencil accompanied the near silence in the room. Even the rain had stopped its drumming outside.
Henry’s right arm danced, his hand hidden behind the pad he held. “Did you have a nice nap, dearest?”
“Comfy pillow.” She matched his quiet tones. Jay had been up as early as she, and he’d spent six hours biking up and down mountains afterward. “That why you didn’t…you know…earlier?”
Pausing his hand, he met her gaze over the edge of the sketch pad. “He’d have fallen asleep in his lunch.”
She twitched her lips but stifled the laugh. “He needed the calories more than the cock?”
Henry granted her a gracious nod and a closed-mouth smile before the rustling scratch of the pencil returned. He seemed intent on his work, but unbothered by her distractions. Content, as if he’d succeeded in his purpose for the weekend. Tomorrow they’d go home.
“Thank you for bringing us here. I can’t remember the last time I had a long, lazy weekend.” She yawned into her elbow. “How long have we been sleeping?”
“About ninety minutes.” His gaze flicked between her and the paper before him.
Fuck. She struggled not to jump to her feet. Or her knees.
“It’s after seven?” Henry’s time. A nice waiting pose and a heartfelt apology might make up for their lapse.
“It is.” He surveyed her in full, his slow sweep chasing away anxiety. “Not to worry. You’re following my directions by lying still.” He flashed a smile. “Astonishingly enough, you followed that direction in your sleep, as well. I’d no idea you were so agreeably submissive.”
She clamped her lips together to avoid waking Jay with laughter, but air chuffed through her nose and her stomach muscles rippled.
Jay snuffled and shifted beneath her.
“Close your eyes a while longer, please, sweet girl. I haven’t quite finished here.”
A deep breath calmed her. Closing her eyes, she crooned to Jay and drifted, buoyed by the scratch of Henry’s pencil and the surety of his love.