Page 75 of Roses, Pearls, and Hot Summer Nights
I met his lips, deciding to believe him. He kissed and kissed me until I felt almost drunk on the taste of him. I let myself float away in the moment, but Phoenix’s lips and teeth at the back of my neck brought me back to the present. I startled, freezing for a moment.
“Heard you call me back from my dream,” he whispered, stringing kisses along my neck in a way that made my heart race. “But Jeremy is the one getting to kiss you. I get to kiss you, too.”
I cleared my throat. “You both want to kiss me?”
“Up to you.” Jeremy kissed the end of my nose. “It’s fine for you to say no, you know that right? No is a complete sentence with us.”
I swallowed. “Okay. Kiss me. Both of you, if you’re really fine with it.”
“We are really, really fine with it,” Phoenix said emphatically before he dragged a line of kisses from my cheek and the side of my neck.
I made my brain work, trying to think past the sensory explosion. “Have you done this before? Kissed someone together?”
“No,” they both said, then Phoenix shook his head, adding, “We haven’t had much interest in any of this before, if I’m being totally honest. But you’re different. Somehow you exist.”
I smoothed his hair away from his face and he kissed me, his lips canceling the question when I would have asked him what he meant. Maybe it didn’t matter, but I certainly couldn’t focus on anything beyond their lips, their touch, their kisses. A lot. Anywhere they could reach. They each took turns with my mouth, until I arched against them with a moan. My body was a ball of fire, as though every nerve ending stood up and paidattention. I realized I would always be able to tell their lips apart. Jeremy’s were softer than Phoenix’s, but Phoenix kissed more gently than his older brother did, with a sweetness that tugged at my heart.
I lost track of time, of the world, just breathing against them and being kissed until my head spun. Finally, it was too much. I caught my breath, gasping, “I think …”
“Got it,” Jeremy agreed then nuzzled against my hair. “Time to stop.”
“Yep.” Phoenix rolled me over until my back pressed against his chest. “That was perfect. You’re so, so perfect.”
“She is perfect.” Jeremy kissed my forehead.
I forced myself to breathe, to slow my heart. Holding me tightly, Phoenix placed his hand on the bare skin of my stomach, where my shirt didn’t quite reach my shorts, and I shivered, wanting more.
“No more bad dreams for either of you,” Jeremey said then kissed my forehead again. “Everyone is safe tonight.”
How did he know? I thought I stayed really quiet. “Did I wake you with mine?”
“No, but when you were awake with Phoenix, I kind of figured. You were tense next to me. Want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “Not even a little bit. I want to revel in this … In the feeling you guys just gave to me.”
Behind me, the youngest Lent laughed. “We’re feeling it, too. Trust me.”
I don’t remember falling asleep, but when the bed dipped slightly, I noticed the light streaming into the room as I woke from a deep, dark dreamless sleep. I lifted my lids to find Barrett seated on the edge of the bed looking at us.
He smiled at me, despite the fact I lay completely tangled up in two of his brothers. At some point, our legs entwined, leaving us practically woven together, but they were still sleeping.Phoenix’s hand remained on my stomach, but Jeremy’s held my thigh.
“Jealous.” He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t usually drink that much.”
From the floor, Julian made a noise. “Are you shouting or am I dying?”
Barrett scrubbed his hand over his face again. “Neither.” His brother groaned in reply.
Phoenix didn’t open his eyes, but he winced. “What time is it?”
He might have asked a good question, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, as if the answer might push away our time in my secret next. Right then, I wasn’t too much or too little of anything. I was just … happy. I smiled a likely silly grin, thinking about how someday I could remember this moment, of being profoundly happy in a bed while in a room with four guys, and it would still make me smile.
Barrett pulled his phone out of his back pocket before answering, “One o’clock.”
I squirmed between his two brothers who released me only enough to sit up. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept this late.”
“You could still be sleeping,” Jeremy grumbled. “If someone hadn’t decided to get up and start conducting conversations.”
“We have to get up,” Barrett replied, stretching, which brought his shirt up just slightly. I licked my lips, struck again by how handsome he was.They all are. I put a hand on my hair, scratching my scalp idly. It really didn’t seem fair for them all to look so good while wearing their clothes from the night before when I was obviously wrecked. I tried to scramble away again to fix it.
