Page 47 of A Little More Forgiveness

Removing his coat, and mindful of his head, we laid him gently down again. This was the second time I’d seen Leo shirtless, but I didn’t have the opportunity to admire his chest, or the light covering of dark-blond hair. Now we had to get him warm and dry.

Gabe flicked open the button on Leo’s jeans with practiced ease, making me wonder how many times he’d performed the same action in the past with previous sexual partners. This irritated the hell out of me for some reason, and I had to deliberately not think about the idea of Gabe and someone else having sex.

I worked on Leo’s boots, loosening the laces before removing them and his socks from his ice-cold feet. “You get his jeans off and I’ll go grab some pain killers and a glass of water for when he wakes up.” I hurried out of the room and into the bathroom. By the time I got the necessary provisions, including a couple of clean towels, and returned to the bedroom, Gabe had managed to get Leo’s jeans down to his ankles.

I helped him remove them before we both stopped, hesitating. “His briefs are soaking wet too,” Gabe informed me, staring at the final item of clothing.

“So we need to take them off.”

“Yeah,” he grudgingly agreed, and they were down and off his hips to join the jeans on the floor in a moment. This time, I couldn’t help but look at Leo. Even soft, his cock was impressive. In fact, every part of him was impressive, fit and muscular from his shoulders to his ankles.

A rush of emotion punched through my body at determining I wasn’t only jealous of Leo wanting Gabe, I was also jealous of Gabe possibly wanting Leo too. It blew my mind to think I might want them both. I’d kept all my feelings pushed way down for so long these last few years, I hadn’t expected them to ever resurface, yet here they were, swirling in my veins and warring with my head. If I’d ever entertained the possibility of being with anyone again, I’d have sworn I’d choose another woman, not a man, let alone two, the idea never having crossed my mind.

“Let’s get him into bed,” Gabe said, his voice huskier than normal, snapping me out of my head. After briskly toweling him dry, and with some gentle maneuvering, we managed to pull the bedclothes out from under Leo and get him in bed, pulling up the sheets and comforter to keep him warm and preserve his decency. Though I had no doubt the image of his naked body would stay with me for quite a while, now we’d got him comfortable and settled.

“He feels like a block of ice,” Gabe remarked as he tucked him in.

I’d already turned the thermostat up to the max, but Leo remained freezing cold and didn’t appear to be getting any warmer.

“He needs more heat,” I told Gabe, my heartrate shooting up at what I was about to suggest. “We need to get in bed with him.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

I shook my head. “He needs as much warmth as possible, but at the same time, we need to ensure we raise his body temperature gradually,” I advised him, and began stripping off my jacket and outer clothes. “Using our own body heat should enable us to achieve this safely.” Gabe stared at me for a moment before he, too, began removing his clothes. Dressed in only my T-shirt and long thermal underwear, I grabbed a couple of throws from a chair in the corner, adding those on top of us to ensure Leo had the best possible chance of warming up. Next, I sidled into bed and snuggled in beside him. His cold skin made me shiver, but I refused to leave as he needed us as near as possible if this was going to work. Gabe, undressed now too, still in my baggy T-shirt, but wearing a pair of snug fitting briefs, mirrored me on the other side and sandwiched Leo between us, giving us the best chance of increasing his body heat.

“Well, ain’t this cozy,” Gabe drawled, and for once his caustic comment didn’t annoy me. I understood him a bit better now and had worked out that he used sarcasm as a coping mechanism. If he felt in any way vulnerable or unsure, he resorted to being a cocky asshole to try to cover his insecurity.

Leo was generally more forthcoming about his feelings or what was on his mind, though this morning he’d actually gone the other way, becoming completely withdrawn and hard to get a read on. Hopefully, I’d get to talk to him when he awoke, explain my conversation with Gabe to him in more detail, and make him see why I’d gotten so upset.

Since arriving here, they’d thrown my ordered and simple life completely out the window. I’d not been happy on my own, but I’d been resigned to my fate and the monotonous routine of working on the property, determined to finish what we’d started.

My stomach dropped when I remembered Katie, and the fact she hadn’t crossed my mind since last night when Gabe and I had nearly kissed. I glanced across at Leo and Gabe, Leo out for the count, his face a little less pale and developing a bit more color, thank goodness. And Gabe, eyes closed, wrapped snugly around Leo. They looked good together.

What if all three of us were together?

In the short space of time since they’d crashed into my life, I’d unexpectedly grown used to their presence. Seeing their stuff in the living room, hearing them talking or the water running through the pipes as they took a shower. Gabe, naked, jerking himself off. Leo, in nothing but a towel, walking past the kitchen.

Was it so wrong to enjoy the relative domesticity of them here in my personal space for a short while longer before my world returned to its bleak loneliness? Before Katie died, there’d always be the sounds of her moving around our home, baking, sewing, or plain moaning at me for not tidying up. Or the simplicity of the two of us spending our evenings snuggled on the couch in front of the TV, watching some crappy show on cable or a rerun of our favorite movies.

Overlaying all my old memories, since they’d arrived, were new ones of Gabe in the kitchen cooking us a meal. Leo’s calming presence easing any tension between us. Or them both lounging on the sofa, easy and relaxed. Okay, they’d disrupted my life, but them being here hadn’t felt wrong, so why did I keep thinking I was betraying the past and my wife?

We lay there together for a couple more hours until Leo shifted between us, dragging my attention back to him. His eyes lazily fluttered open, and he distractedly scanned the room, tensing as he became more awake and alert to his surroundings.

“Look who decided to wake up,” Gabe spoke softly. Leo’s eyes flicked to him before darting between us a few times, pink hitting his cheeks. I took the fact he blushed as a good sign.

“Never woken up in bed with two men before,” he muttered, making me chuckle.

“Don’t sweat it,” Gabe replied, his Adam’s apple working in his throat. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

His tone sounded off, making me frown. He tried for lighthearted, but there’d been an edge of something darker underlying his response, which had me wondering about his life outside of my cabin. He hadn’t talked much about himself since he’d arrived or revealed anything about his personal life, so I could only hazard a guess at the meaning behind his throwaway comment.

Did he make a habit of sleeping with two or more men at a time? He was a sexy guy able to have anybody he wanted, and probably did, so it wouldn’t surprise me to know he’d have multiple partners at a time.

“Speak for yourself,” I grumbled, returning my attention to Leo. “How are you feeling?”

He took his time answering, and I waited while he completed his own mental check.

“I still feel a bit weak, but at least the dizziness has mostly disappeared.”

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