Rough and Ready, page 23
Once she was naked, he expected her to climb back onto the bed, but she held her ground.
“Can I ask you guys something?”
He and Gio both nodded.
“I know I just said I didn’t want to hear about your past practice, but…” She bit her lower lip, and he caught sight of that uncharacteristic shyness that crept out from time to time.
“But what, beauty?” Rafe prompted.
“Is what we do together…is it like what you did with the other women?”
Rafe tilted his head, unsure of her meaning.
“Be more specific,” Gio said, patting the mattress next to him, encouraging her to sit.
She took a seat, then forged on. “I mean…you guys just take turns. We’ve never…” Keeley threw her hands up, shaking her head. “Forget it.”
“No,” Rafe said. “We’re not forgetting it. Keeley, you were new to menage sex—” he started.
“So were the other women,” she interjected.
“Yes,” Rafe replied, “but they were also older, more…” He paused and looked at Gio, uncertain how to finish that thought, who nodded, encouraging him to go on. “They weren’t you,” Rafe finally said. “We’ve been taking things slower because we care about you. We don’t want to hurt you.”
“So it was different with them,” she pressed.
Gio considered that, then shrugged. “Truthfully? No. Not a lot different. We still took turns most of the time, but on occasion…we’d take a woman at the same time, one of us in her mouth, the other in her pussy.”
Keeley nodded. “Oh. Okay.” She looked disappointed.
Rafe rubbed his jaw and tried to hide his growing grin. “Keeley, are you trying to ask us about anal sex?”
She flushed bright scarlet, but he had to hand it to her. She looked him in the eye and held it. “Yes. I kind of thought…”
“Wait. Have you been watching porn? Group-sex porn?” Gio asked, laughing with pure glee.
Keeley narrowed her eyes. “So what if I have been?”
Gio grinned shamelessly. “I’m pissed that you watched it without us. Talk about a missed opportunity.”
Rafe rolled his eyes. “If you had questions about what we were doing, or if there was something you wanted to try, why didn’t you just ask us?”
“Because I wasn’t sure if it was something I want to try. Thought I’d better scope it out first.”
“Jesus,” Rafe said, amused. “So, what do you think now?”
She shrugged and crinkled her nose. “I think it would hurt. A lot.”
Gio shifted on the bed, fluffing the pillows up against the headboard before sliding over to what had become “his” spot. “I think this conversation is going to take a few minutes. Why don’t we get comfortable?”
Keeley moved into the middle, and Rafe claimed his place after her.
Gio wrapped his arm around her shoulder and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. “I guess the first question is…have you experimented with anal at all before?”
Keeley shook her head. “No. I’ve never had a long-term boyfriend, and butt stuff isn’t something I’d want to do with someone I didn’t trust completely.”
Rafe laughed. “Butt stuff,” he murmured, shaking his head.
“God.” Keeley covered her cheeks. “This is a lot more embarrassing than I thought it would be. I mean…we’ve seen each other naked more than dressed the last few weeks.”
Gio tapped under her chin, encouraging her to look at him. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, but I get it. We’ve been friends for years, and now suddenly, we’re more. In some ways, it’s hard to move beyond the way we’ve always been with each other because that part of our relationship lasted years, while this part is still very new.”
“Yeah,” Keeley said. “That feels true.”
“Do you want to try anal?” Rafe asked. He wasn’t sure how he’d respond if she actually said yes. He’d walked into this bedroom viewing tonight as possibly the end. Now, Keeley was asking them to take it up a few notches.
“I don’t know. What if it does hurt?”
“Keeley,” Rafe said, taking her hand in his. “I told you the first night we were together, we’re never going to do anything that hurts you. I meant that.”
“So the two of you haven’t…” She waved her hands around, letting that motion fill in the blanks.
“We’ve never taken a woman that way at the same time,” Gio replied.
“But you have had…” More hand-waving. Too much more of this and Keeley was going to take flight.
“Yes, Keeley,” Rafe responded. “I’ve had anal sex with past lovers.”
“Me too,” Gio added.
“Only with women?” she asked.
Rafe was stunned for a moment. “Where did that question come from?”
She lifted one shoulder casually. “The night of our first date…you put your hand over mine. Helped me give Gio a hand job.”
Rafe recalled that very well because he’d asked himself a million times since then what had compelled him to do so. He and Gio had never touched each other intimately before that. Hell, they hadn’t touched each other since. Still…that night, Gio didn’t pull away from his touch, even though Rafe knew he’d shocked the shit out of his friend.
“I’ve never…” Rafe started, his words falling away. He kept his gaze locked on Keeley’s face, too worried about what he’d see if he looked at Gio.
“We’ve never touched each other sexually before that night,” Gio responded. “But I’m not gonna lie—it was hot.”
“It was,” Keeley agreed.
Gio gave Rafe a look that he struggled to interpret. In the past, he never had any trouble figuring out what was on his friend’s mind, but this time…Rafe didn’t have a clue what Gio was thinking.
Mercifully, he deftly changed the subject, drawing Rafe out of the line of fire in case Keeley decided to ask him why he’d touched Gio that particular night.
“And if you decide you want to try the ‘butt stuff,’” Gio finger-quoted, “we’ll revisit it another night. For tonight, kinky girl, do you think we could keep it fairly simple?”
She cupped Gio’s cheek and gave him a quick kiss. “I guess,” she sighed, grinning wickedly. “If we have to.”
Rafe’s body always reacted to stress before his head could catch up. So his chest was tight before his brain engaged enough to leave him wondering if he was going to be a part of that future plan they’d just agreed to.
Put it away, the little voice inside whispered.
Gio expanded on Keeley’s quick kiss, giving her one that rang the bell and signaled it was time for the next round. The good round.
Keeley moaned into his mouth. “Want you,” she whispered. “Want you both so much.”
Gio broke the kiss and twisted, lying on his back. “Crawl on top of me.”
Keeley threw one of her legs over his waist, her hair a curtain around their faces as they began to kiss again. Rafe sat and watched, let the beauty of their kisses ease away all his anxiety.
Keeley lifted briefly, grasping Gio’s cock and guiding it to her pussy. She slid down slowly, sneaking a peek at Rafe as she did so.
The sexy/sweet grin she gave him took his breath away.
She moaned softly once Gio was seated fully, then she held still, giving herself those few necessary seconds to adjust. She’d confided one night that both of them were bigger than her previous lovers.
Gio remained still beneath her, his hands on her hips. He stared at her like she hung the moon, completely under her spell.
Rafe had never seen Gio so in love.
Gio had professed having feelings for Jennifer and Vanessa, though not Jill. But it was clear his heart hadn’t been fully engaged with either of those women. Not like it was now. With Keeley.
Keeley lifted up, then lowered back down, faster this time, a bit harder. She bounced on Gio’s dick a dozen times before bending forward to steal another kiss. Gio lifted his hips, thrusting his pelvis so that he was still fucking her, shallowly, from his position below.
Rafe was overwhelmed by the desire to join them. Perhaps Keeley had planted the seed with her questions, but right now, it simply wasn’t in him to wait his turn. Not this time.
He sat up, then crawled toward them, his actions drawing their attention. He knelt directly behind Keeley. While she was straddling Gio’s hips, Rafe chiseled himself a spot between his friend’s parted legs.
Neither of them had an issue with proximity, or with glancing brushes of hands or legs. It was sex, they were naked, and body parts were going to touch. However, this was a more intimate position, and he could see the furrow in Gio’s brow. His friend wasn’t annoyed, but he was definitely curious about Rafe’s intentions—especially when Rafe reached down and briefly, just briefly, cupped Gio’s balls.
Gio grunted, his eyes closing with pleasure for just a moment, before opening once more, his gaze locking with Rafe’s. Gio, the impulsive fucker, raised one eyebrow and quirked a grin as if to say, “So it’s like that now?”
Rafe wanted to laugh, but damn if he wasn’t in over his fucking head. Because he couldn’t understand this sudden desire to touch Gio too.
Were his feelings for these two getting mixed up? He’d always shared a tight bond with Gio, their relationship solid, reliable…platonic. But now, with Keeley there—making him feel shit he had zero experience with—it suddenly felt like there could be more between him and Gio. Like something had already been there, buried beneath the surface all this time, unseen because Rafe had always refused to dig deeper.
He was spiraling out of control, spinning wildly, with no way to stop himself from crashing into the brick wall looming large and impenetrable right in front of him.
Keeley, unaware of the exchange between him and Gio, started to lift up on her knees once more, but Rafe placed his hand in the middle of her back.
“Stay down. Like that. Fuck her the way you were, Gio.”
Gio tilted his hips, and Keeley, who seemed physically incapable of remaining still during sex, added her own force to the motion, sliding up and down the length of Gio’s body.
On one upward swing, Rafe used his grip on her back to push her even higher, until Gio’s cock slipped out of her pussy, just as Rafe had intended. He was ready.
Gripping his dick, he guided himself inside her, loving Keeley’s adorable little squeak of surprise.
“Oh!” she gasped, as Rafe began fucking her. He pounded inside her fifteen, twenty times—then he pulled out.
Gio caught on quickly, taking Rafe’s place, fucking her from below.
Over and over, they pounded, then retreated, allowing the other man a turn.
“We’re sharing you,” Rafe said, placing a kiss on Keeley’s bare shoulder. It wasn’t what she’d meant earlier, but fuck if it wasn’t the most moving sexual experience of his life.
Keeley cried out, “Yes,” but Rafe had no idea if she was agreeing or if she was simply close to the end.
On his next retreat, Rafe wrapped his hand around his dick as Gio slid back inside. “Make her come,” he demanded. “Then we’re coming too.”
Gio nodded, just once, and Rafe suspected that was all he was capable of. Like Keeley, he was teetering on the edge.
Gio’s fingers slid to her clit, his touch doing the trick.
Keeley cried out, her back arching as she came. Gio went down with her, drawing her body down on his, his fingers grasping her upper arms tightly.
“God, Keeley,” he grunted as he climaxed.
Rafe placed his hand on her upper back once more, holding her down as he tightened his grip and increased his speed, jacking off with a fury. A dozen strokes later, he was there, coming so hard his bones rattled, painting her bare back with his release.
“Fuck. Yes! Jesus,” Rafe cried out. “Beauty.”
The three of them remained there, close together, until Rafe forced himself to rise.
“Stay there, Keeley. Don’t move. I need to clean you off.” He walked to the bathroom and dampened a washcloth.
Neither Gio nor Keeley had stirred, and he wondered if they’d fallen asleep like that, with Gio’s soft cock still nestled inside her.
Keeley’s eyes drifted open when Rafe gently washed her back clean. She gave him a drowsy smile of thanks. Then she rolled over, flopping onto her back in the middle of the bed, lifeless.
Gio grunted when she moved but didn’t bother to open his eyes. The heavy way his chest rose and fell told Rafe if he wasn’t asleep, he would be in mere seconds.
Rafe washed himself up, tossed the washcloth in the laundry bucket, then joined them in bed. He lay on his back for several minutes, listening to their soft breathing.
Keeley slipped under the covers once she’d cooled off and shifted into her usual position, stomach down. They’d slept together enough nights that their sleep routines were familiar, comfortable.
He let their soft breathing lull him right to the threshold of sleep. A second more and he would have been there.
But he heard Keeley whisper. She’d rolled over to face Gio while his friend still lay on his back, on his side of the bed.
“Gio,” she whispered, so low Rafe had to strain to hear her, and he was right beside her. Her words were more breath than whisper.
“Yeah,” Gio murmured back quietly.
“I love you,” she said.
Rafe couldn’t see either of their faces in the dark, but he could hear the smile in Gio’s voice when he whispered back, “I love you too, little one. So much.”
“I just needed to tell you,” she breathed back.
And that was it. All they said. Then Keeley nestled closer to Gio, who wrapped her up in his embrace. The two of them were asleep within seconds.
Rafe lay there in the silence that followed, his heart thudding so loud, he felt certain it would wake them. Then he recalled Keeley reading his horoscope to him this morning. The words had bothered him all day.
It’s scary to do anything risky for fear of failure. Perhaps you’ve tried to become invisible in situations so you can avoid being noticed. These defense mechanisms won’t get you where you need to go.
For three weeks, Rafe had felt like he belonged here, with them…but he’d resisted it heavily, tried to deny it by hiding his feelings. Apparently, he’d made himself too invisible.
Had Keeley waited until she thought he was asleep to say those words to Gio?
Why? Because she thought he didn’t want to hear them?
Or worse, because she didn’t want to say them to Rafe?
Gio had made no bones about his feelings. He was in love with her, and he’d found ways to show Keeley every single day they’d been together. He wanted to marry her, wanted to be with her. Forever.
Meanwhile, Rafe had purposely put himself on the outside, had told her—told both of them—that all he wanted was sex.
Now he was here.
Alone.
Exactly in the place he’d put himself because he’d been too afraid to open himself up to the possibility of love.
She loved Gio.
Rafe played her confession over and over in his head, into the wee hours, until he thought he’d go mad.
Ultimately, the clock had run out…and now it was time for him to do as he promised.
It was time for him to walk away.
Chapter Fifteen
Keeley walked around the house, searching the living room and kitchen for Rafe before heading to his office. She and Gio had been surprised when they’d woken up to discover him gone. The three of them were sleepy starters ordinarily, usually dozing for a few minutes past the alarm before waking each other up in such a manner that they didn’t get out of bed until waaaay past the alarm.
Gio had frowned when he realized Rafe wasn’t there, but he’d covered up his concern quickly, coming up with a bunch of lame reasons why Rafe had probably risen early.
Keeley hadn’t been fooled by any of them. She knew what today was. The date had been circled in red in her brain ever since Gio had asked her to stay with them until Kayden returned from Vermont.
The day Rafe said they would decide where they all stood.
So many times last night, she’d opened her mouth to tell them both she loved them. The feeling simply wouldn’t be contained anymore. Mercifully—and just barely—she managed to wait until Rafe fell asleep so that she could at least, finally, say the words to Gio. And he’d said them back.
But as magical and wonderful as that had felt, she’d still wanted to tell Rafe the same thing. Fear of losing him for good had held her back.
Given his absence in the bed this morning, it didn’t seem to matter if she’d said them or not.
“There you are,” she said, forcing a cheerful tone. She walked around his desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Rafe made no move to return the kiss with a hotter one. Instead, he gave her a wan smile—and just like that, she knew.
It was over.
Keeley was instantly reminded of the night her parents died. Kayden had walked in. She’d taken one look at his face and known they were gone. He didn’t have to say a word.
The same was true now. One glimpse into Rafe’s eyes and she could see what was coming.
Rafe’s gaze traveled to the door.
“Gio’s taking a shower,” she replied to his unspoken question. She wondered if he would wait until Gio was here to do this or if he preferred to say it to her in private.
Rafe nodded, but he remained quiet.
Keeley took a deep breath, fighting for composure as she tried to figure out the best way to handle this. If she remained in this room too long, the pressure would break her, and she’d fall apart.
She was going to fall apart regardless, but she didn’t want to do it in front of Rafe.
He’d never promised her forever, never alluded to the future.
Nope. He’d told her at Aspen Rose that for him, what they shared would only be sex. She walked into this with her eyes wide open, so she couldn’t be mad, couldn’t yell or scream or call him names, even if that was exactly what she wanted to do.
