Marcus paced his living room. Why was Knox’s debrief taking so fucking long? It had been hours and hours since they’d left him downstairs. At least Kennedy had finally knocked on Marcus’s door and asked if she could wait with him after Sola had left her apartment earlier.
They hadn’t really talked about anything of consequence and it was driving him insane not knowing where they stood.
“Hey.” Kennedy reached out and snagged Marcus’s hand on his next lap past where she was curled up on the couch. “Why don’t you come sit with me?”
“Because I’m not sure where the lines are right now and I don’t think I’ll be able to put distance between us if that’s what you want.”
“Is that what you want?” Kennedy tipped her head.
“Of course not. But now that this is over and you have Knox back, I fully understand that you might not need me anymore.” Marcus couldn’t believe how much lighter he felt when he let that horrible thought escape his heart and fly out of his mouth.
“You can’t seriously think that.” Kennedy started to laugh, but stopped when she realized he wasn’t joining her. “Oh my God, you do.”
She stood and put her arms around him, squeezing him tight before going onto her tiptoes to frame his face with her hands. She held it so that he was forced to stare into her eyes when she said, “Marcus, I love you. I have for a long time now. I was just too chicken shit to admit it to either of us.”
Then she kissed him slowly, gently, no need to rush or wait until they were so desperate they might explode if they didn’t vent some of their longing. This was something peaceful and enduring. Something he would prize having forever.
Kennedy pulled back a hairsbreadth, just enough to whisper, “Apparently, when I fall for someone, I love them for life. So I hope you’re okay with that and with the fact that I still want Knox too.”
“That makes two of us.” Marcus clenched his eyes shut, remembering the instant he’d seen Knox’s boot sticking out from behind that reinforced door. He’d been terrified of what he was going to find when he uncovered the other man. They’d gotten so damn lucky.
Kennedy’s smile was wide and dazzling. “We’ll have to convince Jordan we need him on the team.”
“I don’t think that’ll be very hard.” Marcus shook his head and breathed out a faint laugh. “He singlehandedly took out a cartel today, risking his own life to shut it down. But I thought you didn’t like the thought of sleeping with your coworkers.”
He would quit Shields if he had to, but Marcus hoped it didn’t come to that. What they did might be gruesome, but after that day he was more sure than ever that someone had to do it.
“I think I realized today that being partners on and off the field has its benefits too. We’re able to read each other, respond and bring another level of dedication to protecting each other. Knox wasn’t the only one saving lives today. You did too.”
“You always do.” Marcus ran his hand from her shoulders down to her fingers, linking theirs together. “I admire that about you, Kennedy. Even in the midst of destruction, you’re putting things back together. Let me be the person who does that for you. And for Knox.”
Kennedy took a deep breath and then nodded before looping her arms around his neck and kissing him again, deeper this time.
They might have gotten carried away if there hadn’t been a rap on the door right then.
“It’s me. Can I come in?” Knox asked.
Marcus made sure Kennedy was steady before he released her and jogged to let Knox inside. He had no shirt on and he was covered in…plastic wrap? “I know you’re a snack, but why are you dressed like a sandwich?”
Kennedy cracked up at that, making Marcus’s heart soar. Maybe, just maybe, things were going to be okay. Better than.
Knox came into the living room, taking one of each of their hands in his. He squeezed, then said, “Because I wanted both of you to know how fucking serious I am when I say that although I’m sure I don’t deserve you, I want you both and I plan to do anything and everything it takes to show you that someday I might figure out how to be the kind of man you can be proud of.”
Marcus glanced at Kennedy when her breath hitched, in time to see a single tear track down her porcelain skin. She murmured, “Does that mean you’re staying?”
“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I do because otherwise, this is going to be a pain in my ass to laser off.” Knox turned around then. “It’s just the outline. That’s all she could do today because of the position of the burns on my back and given how big it is. But it’s a start. A jumping off point for more progress. Kind of like me. I wanted both of you to know how serious I am about this. About us.”
Marcus couldn’t help himself. He stalked forward and wrapped his hand around the front of Knox’s throat to hold him in place. Kennedy raced to his side and together they examined the tattoo that covered Knox’s entire back. It was easy to see how the massive piece would fully obscure the viper slithering around his spine with a shield. Outlines of decorative elements that would keep it from being a single blob of blackness on his back showed the promise in the piece.
“Blakely did this, didn’t she?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah. James hooked me up. I guess the Powertools are working on a studio for her right down the street from here. She’s really cool.” Knox swallowed hard. “Do you like it?”
“It’s perfect.” Kennedy placed a kiss on the edge of the protective film. “And I appreciate knowing you’re planning on sticking around this time.”
“As long as you’ll have me, I’m not going anywhere.” Knox turned and kissed her before eyeing Marcus. “Is that okay with you?”
Marcus shed his anxieties in an instant. He grinned as he took one each of Knox’s and Kennedy’s hands then marched into the bedroom, dragging them along with him. Carefully, he helped tip Knox onto the bed, shaking his head. “You’ve got to quit getting busted up so we can do this properly some time.”
Knox laughed at that.
“I’ll try my best.” He winced and rolled onto his stomach. “I don’t think I can handle the bottom today, guys.”
“Then why don’t you fuck me instead?” Marcus asked.
Knox sputtered. “I…uh…are you sure? ’Cause, yeah, I’d be up for that.”
“Obviously.” Kennedy smirked. “You don’t need a medical degree to diagnose what’s happening in your shorts right now.”
They laughed, but Knox stayed still, waiting for Marcus to answer him. Marcus shrugged. “Seems fitting. You took Kennedy’s virginity. Might as well take mine too.”
“Hold on. You’ve never had someone in your ass before?” Knox sat up then.
Marcus shook his head. “I never imagined this is how my love life would turn out, but I’m not about to argue with the universe when it feels this good.”
“We haven’t even gotten started yet,” Knox promised him.
Kennedy put her hand on Marcus’s shoulder and pressed until he joined Knox on the bed as if she was presenting him to her boyfriend. Then she climbed on behind him.
They spent what might have been hours simply holding each other and kissing slowly, their hands wandering over every inch of each other as if to reassure themselves that the three of them were still there and whole. Maybe in a way they never had been before.
Marcus was confident Kennedy had meant what she’d said earlier. That he’d won her heart independently of their new relationship with Knox. She didn’t lie and neither did her sighs and moans as the three of them enjoyed each other.
He let himself relax at the center of his two lovers, thrilled that although they’d both claimed he was their rock, they were his sanctuary too. Knox shifted so that he could bury his face in Kennedy’s pussy, and when she’d come, he lifted her on top of Marcus so she could slide down his length. Only when they were locked together seamlessly did Marcus wrap her in his arms and roll so that she was tucked beneath him.
He rocked within her as Knox prepared his ass, opening him before easing inside. Marcus’s eyes were opened wide, both to an entirely new level of rapture and the freedom that came from not only loving but allowing himself to accept the sometimes messy affection that these two people had for him.
It might not always be perfect, but as long as they were willing to work on it together, he had no doubt that it would last forever.
Unlike him.
They came together slowly, gently, without the frantic edge they’d possessed each time before when they were constantly trying to outrun some hidden enemy that they’d carried within them all along. Marcus felt full, complete, and surrounded by love as he pressed, slid, and ground into Kennedy. He kissed her, caressed her, and promised her the world as Knox did the same to them both.
And when Marcus felt himself losing control, Knox cried out their names.
Marcus’s ass tightened on Knox’s dick and drew the other man closer to the brink with him.
But it was Kennedy, who went stiff beneath them both then looked up with pure devotion and bliss in her eyes, that triggered both men to fall with her.
She came in rolling waves that sucked Marcus’s cock even deeper inside her where he unloaded every drop of his release, flooding her as Knox did the same to his ass. The heat and certainty that washed over the deepest places of his being brought Marcus the most complete satisfaction he’d ever experienced.
And if he was lucky, as it seemed he truly was, he might get to experience that same overpowering love and contentment every night for the rest of his life.
Marcus flipped onto his back and gathered both Knox and Kennedy to his chest. He hugged them as they exchanged a sweet kiss before each of them said at the same time, “I love you.”