Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Penny

One month later

When I hear Nick’s heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, I quickly hide the folded newspaper beneath my school books, but my heart is still bouncing and zigzagging off my rib cage, the bold headline impressed on my memory.

Body of Russian Mobster Washes up on Riverbank.

In the month since the second fire that almost took my life, there has only been one night when Nick and Zeke didn’t sleep beside me. They kissed me on the head, made me promise not to open the door…and when they returned home, there was a dark satisfaction in them I should have found alarming.

I didn’t.

My two lovers are obsessed beyond reason with me. It shows in everything they do. The way they escort me to and from class, help me with projects, encourage me. Their obsession is in the two sets of hands that wash me in the bathtub, usually right before those same hands drag me out with lustful intention, positing me how they need me. It’s in the way they never let a day pass without telling me how much they love me, while I’m eating breakfast on one of their laps, sunbathing in the backyard or sketching designs in my notebook.

Here’s the thing…I’m obsessed with them, too. Their honor. The way they’ve become equal partners in the business of me. Penny. Their heroism and yes, yes of course, their bodies. The lovemaking. Their non-stop eagerness to make me a mother. These men have become my life and I know their hearts and minds. So if they avenged me—and my father—with violence, I know they had no choice. And while they never let me feel anything but safe, I can admit to feeling ever more secure now, with Boris Volkov out of the picture.

Sensing Nick standing in the doorway of my bedroom, I remain on my belly poring over my books, but I part my thighs just a little, knowing he can see beneath the plaid skirt I wear just for him. Daddy. One of the men who apparently kills for me, then comes home and checks my homework.

The floor shakes a little as Nick drops to his knees behind me, one rough hand gliding up slowly from my ankle, over my calf, stopping high on my thigh. “What are you working on?”

Dampness is already spreading on the crotch of my panties. “Um…I’m studying for my fashion merchandising final.”

Nick hums low in his throat and flips up my skirt, revealing the frilly, white panties he bought me, leaving them in my drawer without a conversation.

Right alongside the cheetah print thong Zeke bought for me to rile up Nick.

Thinking of my other man, my lips spread into a smile. No longer does the rule exist where both men need to be present to touch me. And life is much sweeter since they developed that trust. Not only in each other, but in me. I’m never going to love one of them more than the other. They both own equal parts of my heart—and that’s how it will always stay.

Since Zeke’s apartment was damaged in the fire, we’ve all moved into Nick’s house, each of us taking our own room, but usually sleeping in the master bedroom together, their heat never failing to give me the best sleep of my life. Of course, Zeke insists on paying half the mortgage—and I plan to contribute one day when I start my own fashion line. They only laugh when I tell them that. But it will happen.

I can be pretty stubborn when I set my mind to it.

“Your date with Zeke is tonight,” Nick says, straddling my bottom with his big, uniformed thighs, not a hint of jealousy lacing his tone. “But you’re going to give Daddy a little attention first.”

I turn over and watch his hungry eyes travel down my halfway unbuttoned blouse. Most of my nights are spent at home, but once a week, Nick and Zeke trade off taking me on dates. Nick’s are more traditional, like dinner and a movie, while Zeke usually takes me go kart racing or dancing. Both are perfect to me.

“What kind of attention do you want, Daddy?” I whisper, my eyes curious. “Do you need help to lie on top of me and move all fast again?”

Nick shudders out a breath, his palm scrubbing over the rising bulge behind his fly. “Yes, sweetheart. Daddy needs that all the time.”

“Oh,” I whisper, giving an exaggerated nod. “Okay.”

There’s a chuckle outside my bedroom door and Zeke strolls in, leaning back against my dresser. He licks his lips as he looks the scene over, making a savoring sound deep in his throat. “Warming her up for our date, huh?”

“That’s right.” Nick unzips his pants, his cock falling out onto my raised skirt. “If you’re a good girl and give me what I need, we’ll see about adding an hour to your curfew.”

I take his heavy flesh in my hand and tug it hard and fast, watching Nick’s head fall forward on a strangled groan. “Like this, Daddy?”

“Yes, Penny. Just like that.” Nick’s hand closes around my throat, squeezing just enough to make me gasp. “Has my little girl been practicing?”

This is part of a new fantasy, not real jealousy, and my body thrills with excitement. “N-no.” I turn my head away. “I swear.”

Nick captures my jaw and turns me back to face him. “If you’re going to be a bad girl and let boys touch this pussy…” He rakes his hand down my body, wrenching my panties down past my ankles. “Maybe it’s finally time I take it for myself.”

I fight his hold. He easily pins me and wedges his big hips in between my thighs, but in my struggles, I’ve knocked my books askew and now Nick’s attention is trained on something over my head. I tilt my neck and suck in a breath.

It’s the article.

“Been doing some reading, baby?” Zeke drawls from across the room, pushing off the dresser and coming toward Nick and me. “Anything you want to share with the class?”

Zeke drops into a kneel beside my head and something passes between him and the man holding me down. The men I love with my whole heart and soul are still present, but there’s a dangerous bite to them that’s not usually there. I realize now that it was always below the surface. Waiting.

Without warning, Nick grips his erection, positions it at my damp entrance and drives into me with a snarl—hard. My scream is still ringing in the air when Zeke rips my blouse wide open, buttons popping off and scattering around the room. His hands mold to my bare breasts, massaging them in work-roughened hands. “Did you doubt that we would end the life of anyone who fucking dared to come near what’s ours?”

Nick pumps inside me with such force, I arch my back on a whimper. “N-no I didn’t doubt it. I just wondered…”

“Wondered what?” Nick rasps, circling his hips. “If we’d finally lost our goddamn minds over you?” His big chest flexes over me, sturdy and immoveable, making me feel feminine, loved and preyed upon all at once. “We have, sweetheart. We did on day one. Every single waking minute, I’m thinking of ways to get deep as fuck in this pussy. God, it’s so tight and sweet.”

Zeke unzips, dragging out his flesh with a moan. “It’s your fault, baby. Every single fuck is better than the last. Every one. And each morning when we drop you off at school, someone else is looking at what we own.” He watches Nick drive into me, stroking his own flesh at the sight. “We don’t like it. And now you know there’s no limit to what we’d do if someone got too close, let alone hurt you.”

“Spread your legs for your keepers and tell us we’re the only ones you’ll ever love. It might calm us down for the night. One. Night. Enough that we won’t want to kill the next man who checks out your gorgeous body.” Nick’s thrusts grow more frenzied, his groans echoing in the room. “Tell us.”

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” I wail, my back dragging up and down the floor with the impact of Nick’s drives. “I never want anyone else. Ever.”

Zeke bends forward and claims my mouth with tongue, lips, teeth. “You’re our home. You’re our life.” His warm breath skates over my face. “Can’t wait for that little belly to swell. Can’t wait for that final claim on you, baby. Fuck.”

“You don’t have to wait,” I blurt, sucking in breaths as they both go still as statues, Nick still buried deep inside me, Zeke’s hand paused between his legs. “I took a test today.” Tears fill my eyes. “It was positive.”

I’ve never seen two men happier in my life—and just like everything else these two men do, they show me exactly how happy in their own, unique way. Zeke and I reschedule our date between laughing, enthusiastic kisses, while Nick has to keep clearing his throat, his hands roaming over me as if to reassure himself I’m real. The article lies forgotten among my books…and my back doesn’t leave the ground for a long, long time.

The End