Four Bonds Read online

  I turned to face him as I walked backwards, unzipping my dress as I went. Like it always was in this country so far, the night was perfect. A light breeze kept the air from getting stale, but the temperature was such that my skin felt no need for protection from the elements.

  Maalik and I made eye contact as I slid my dress down, his expression a little hard to read in the dark. He was leaning against a tree, one ankle crossed over the other, arms crossed as he stood there in his midnight blue tux. His scruffy beard was on point and begging for me to comb through it. His hair disheveled just enough for me to think it was on purpose, and his warm brown eyes were watching me with unparalleled intensity. He made no sounds as I continued removing clothing, until all that could be said for my evening ensemble was a pile of fabric on the corner of the blanket.

  “This might be easier for us if you were closer and wearing less clothes.” I teased him.

  He stood there another few minutes just looking at me before he started loosening his bowtie. He carefully draped his jacket over a low limb then toed his shoes off. His pants soon joined the jacket and after he stuffed his socks inside his shoes he peeled off his undershirt and stalked towards me in just his boxer briefs.

  “I was right. You look fucking beautiful in the moonlight. Your skin has this glow to it and your eyes. I think they might outshine the stars above us.”

  “Not much you can do with my eyes though. I think we should be focusing on other body parts. Ones that might be more relevant to two people that just got named husband and wife…”

  “Damn that sounds good. Just hearing you say you’re my wife, Isla, is all the warm-up I need. You own me.”

  Maalik began kissing me like he was a dying man and we wordlessly ended up lying together on the quilt. We broke apart so I could take my time checking out the tattoos on his chest, tracing every line and contour. I could see goose flesh rising as I trailed my fingers all over him, his eyes closing and a contented sigh escaping from his lips. I started peeling his boxers off, making his body match mine in its complete state of undress.

  He was already as thick and solid as I’d ever felt, his body showing me exactly how he felt about me in this moment. The precum leaking out of the tip called me like a siren and when I bent forward to lap it up, he hissed out a breath and brought his hands down into my hair, gently weaving his fingers into it.

  I tasted every inch of him, burying him in my throat as I felt my body revving up from my attention on him. I wouldn’t have guessed that administering a blow job would get my body as ramped up as feeling the guys hands in my intimate areas did. His hips began rocking gently in rhythm with me, and when I met his gaze it was to find a man that was deep in the throes of need.

  Maalik gently pulled me off of him, tugging me up next to him as he started exploring my body with his hands. There was no sense of urgency, and the fact that we were outside was so calming and peaceful. When I was on my back, he started peppering me with open mouthed kisses all over my neck, across my chest, and down to my nipples where he started tugging and nipping. I felt the pleasure from his mouth shoot straight down to my clit, making me start to throb with need for him.

  My knees fell open as I tried to meet his body for friction against my neediness. His hands still travelling all over me, they covered my hips and brought my legs up to wrap around him. Travelling back up to kiss me, he lined up his swollen tip with my dripping entrance, slowly entering me as he swept his tongue against mine. I cried out at his first thrust, enthralled by the setting and the slow tempo he set with his hips.

  He laid his forehead against mine, then backed up a few inches to watch me as he took body slowly, binding me to him for the second time today.

  “I love you so much, Isla. Seeing you like this, your skin bare in these woods, is something that is going to stay with me as long as I live. The way you feel right now, so warm and tight, thinking back to hearing you tell me you’d take me as your husband, this is all more than anything I could have imagined feeling like. You’re so damn perfect for me.”

  “I love you too. God you feel good. I think my body is turning to liquid inside the way you’re moving. Oh God don’t stop.”

  Maalik took his time with me, revving up as he felt me getting close to release. I knew there was no one around so I didn’t feel like I had to hold back my voice. Turns out I was very vocal in bed, but after so many years of foregoing any sort of romantic touch, how could I do anything else? Our moans echoed lightly in the air around us, the cacophony of night in the forest the perfect backdrop for it.

  Later when we both lay together completely sated, Maalik pulled a blanket over us as we started to drift off from the exhaustions of the day and the passions from the night.

  “I hope I never get over how incredible these stars are. Promise me we’ll do this often, use these stars how they’re intended. I want our kids to grow up knowing how amazing they are too.”

  “Kids?”

  “Well, you know, eventually. I just meant that I don’t want us to get too busy in our new life that we forget to appreciate this sky. It’s so incredible here.”

  “You know we’re not rushing you, but the day I find out you’re carrying our baby will be cause for huge celebration. You know that, right? And not just because of what it means for the country. You’ve got our name now, and even though we haven’t been together all that long, the thought of you carrying my baby in your body zaps my soul. Knowing we could make something completely new together, half you, half us? That’s amazing.”

  “Do you think anyone will care about who the actual father is?”

  “You’re married to all of us, or rather, you will be after tomorrow. As far as we’re concerned, any baby you make with us belongs to all of us. Biology doesn’t matter.”

  I nestled in closer to Maalik as my eyes got heavy, knowing he was right.

  Four

  One downside to sleeping outside was that it was kind of hard to avoid rising with the sun. We were fairly sheltered by trees around us but the sunlight streaming down in the clearing we were in was hard to sleep through. It was still warm outside, and birds were flitting about and singing for us as I tried to stay relaxed and comfy.

  Maalik started stirring as I did, absentmindedly kissing my head as he tightened his arm around me.

  “Good morning Mrs. Damani.”

  “Good morning Mr. Damani.”

  Sleepy voices and morning kisses was about as much as we could manage before we fell asleep awhile longer, neither of us willing to give up the comfort of what we’d shared last night. When I heard the back door to the cabin open and close I startled, instinctively wrapping the blanket tightly around me so I wouldn’t expose myself.

  I heard an amused chuckle and footsteps make their way over towards us. As I blinked my eyes open and they adjusted to the brightness, I saw Atticus making his way over to us with a tray of breakfast and an arm full of clothes.

  “Figured you two hadn’t thought about bringing out anything to change into.”

  “Isn’t the whole point of a honeymoon to not wear clothes?”

  “Hey, I’m not going to complain about you being naked Isla. Just thought you might be more comfortable with at least a t-shirt on.”

  At that, I let the blanket fall down, not caring anymore about keeping myself covered. I felt Maalik tense up next to me and at the same time Atticus sucked in a quick breath, stumbling and nearly dropping all the breakfast he’d brought us. He caught himself in time to put it down next to the blanket we were still lying on, and then took the clothes he had carried out and quickly sorted through them. He threw some fabric at Maalik and then took what I presumed to be my clothing and chucked it as far away as he could back towards the house.

  “You’re right. You don’t really need those.” His eyes roamed over me freely, making me feel powerful for how I could affect him.

  Maalik had propped himself up on one elbow, resting his head in his hand as his other arm draped across my l
ap and pulled me closer.

  “Can we please uphold the ‘no shirts to bed’ rule that Isla invoked on her as well? Like all the time? Our house, our rules, right?” Atticus looked towards Maalik, trying to wrestle an agreement from him.

  Maalik simply joined in with the ogling that Atticus had started, letting his fingers follow where his eyes travelled.

  “It’s only fair, Isla. If you want us to go to bed without a shirt then you’re going to have to abide as well. Equality for women and all that.”

  I giggled at him, immensely enjoying seeing them fall under a joint effort to rile me up.

  “She’s giggling. I don’t think she is taking this seriously.” Atticus moved closer towards us, shucking off his shoes and shirt to crawl into bed with us.

  Sandwiched between the two of them made it hard to maintain eyes on them both so I let my body lay back down, propping my arms above my head as I looked at the ever-brightening sky.

  Before I could even blink, two sets of hands started peeling back the blanket that was covering my ribs down, revealing my entire torso to the morning sky and their hungry eyes. They must have used their twin power to communicate silently because then I felt a hot mouth over each of my nipples, tongue swirling over me and then it was my turn to suck in a quick breath and lose control.

  Their hands began kneading my stomach, my hips, trailing below the blanket to land on my thighs. They worked together to move a leg closer to each of them, exposing me completely underneath the blanket. Their hands kept wandering, dancing around each other as they stroked and touched me everywhere except the one place I desperately wanted them to. They skirted around it, teasingly tracing the indent between my leg and center, then tracing the outline of my outer lips and lower towards my bottom, never missing a beat on the nipples they were both still devouring.

  “Ok, ok. No shirts in bed applies to me too. Please, you’re driving me cra-“

  At that moment somebody’s hand moved exactly where I needed it. I wasn’t sure whose hand was where but somebody’s fingers entered me, stroking me internally to match the other hand that was now stroking slowly back and forth right over my clit.

  “I knew we could get you to agree. I think you can see the benefits of bare skin. Now. Wife. There will be people here soon to primp you for Lander, so we’re going to need you to be real quiet. Be a good girl and you’ll get what you need.”

  Atticus leaned forward to cover my mouth with his, his hands fumbling underneath the blankets with his belt and pants as Maalik tried to distract me with his hands. My body was pulled taut already, straining to fall over the edge but when I made a small whimper he stopped immediately. I bucked my hips in retaliation, trying to force him to continue.

  “You’re going to need to try harder than that little dream if you want what we’re offering.”

  I nodded my head in agreement as his hands pulled away and Atticus crawled on top of me, breaking the kiss to hold eye contact.

  “You going to be able to be quiet so the people arriving don’t think to come back here?”

  I nodded again, my body burning for some relief. He nudged at my entrance, and even though I wanted to vocalize how needy I felt, I closed my eyes instead and tried to breathe deep to calm down the need to make noise. Satisfied that I had control over my voice, Atticus slammed into me, stilling to test my reaction before coming right back again. I sought out Maalik’s hand to anchor myself to something, but his hand was not unoccupied.

  I flashed my eyes open to seek his, and his smirk at where my hand now was was smoldering. He wrapped his hands over mine, thrusting his hips into my hold as Atticus continued to claim my body over and over. Having them both at the same time brought me to a whole new level and I knew that I was about to free fall. I closed my eyes again to focus on my breathing so I could follow the rules of this little game they’d set up. Somehow, knowing I couldn’t make any noise made everything feel more intense because I had no outlet for all the nerve endings they were setting on fire.

  This right here, being with two of the men that I had fallen for, was what I was hoping life could be like. Even if we weren’t intimate, I know that just the feelings they inspired in me when we were together was more happiness than I’d ever dreamed possible.

  My body felt wrecked from all the new ways it had been used in the past few days and I still had one more night with Lander before I could even contemplate a break. None of that mattered though as my body started building up towards my release. Focusing solely on my breathing, I met Atticus’ eyes as he thrust in and out of me, nodding my head in encouragement as we chased the elusive moment we were after. I clawed at his pecs as Maalik fondled my breasts, his hips moving furiously now in my hand.

  The moment my release hit I let my body fall perfectly still so I could feel every single spike in pleasure. Atticus followed soon after and then I felt Maalik spend himself in my hand as we all collapsed in a pile of sweaty skin under the blanket.

  “You guys are trying to destroy me aren’t you?”

  Maalik chuckled at me, wrapping his arm around my waist as Atticus fell to my other side and started playing with my hair.

  “Over 20 years we’ve waited to meet the woman that would complete us. Finally having you tied to us is an aphrodisiac we can’t stop taking. Are we pushing you too far?”

  I looked in to Maalik’s concerned eyes, losing myself in the depth of warm chocolate.

  “Ugh. Everything hurts but it hurts so good. I might walk a little funny today, but each little twang of discomfort will just remind me of these moments. Poor Lander, he’s going to get this washed up exhausted woman to try and seduce tonight. I need some magic guys. This is his first time. I want to blow his mind.”

  “Well we don’t have magic to give you, but I do have coffee and food, and we can get a nice hot bath going for you inside. You can soak for a bit and ease your body for a bit before they doll you up.”

  “Okay, you had me at coffee and food. I’m seriously never going to take all this pampering for granted.”

  After throwing on his pants again, he grabbed the clothes he had haphazardly thrown to waste and helped me into a t-shirt as Maalik brought over the breakfast.

  “It’s so peaceful out here.”

  “Mm. There is something in starting your day outside under the pale skies and waking up as the sun takes over for the day. Kind of sets the tone for the rest of the day. Although you guys slept kind of late.”

  “Do I have time to take a bath?”

  “Isles, this is your wedding day. If you need a bath you take a damn bath. Lander will understand if you’re a little late but I think you’ll be fine. Going off of the other dresses, I’m assuming your gown for tonight is blue?”

  Atticus got me.I hung my head and admitted sheepishly that it was.

  “There wasn’t a ton of dresses though in the right color, I’m a little nervous about this one. I might need some confidence boosting to pull it off.”

  Maalik eyed me carefully. “And why’s that?”

  I swallowed down some coffee, turning my head to meet his eyes as I felt the familiar rush of blood hit my cheeks.

  “Um, it’s a little, how should I say this. Sexier? Revealing? Nothing crazy, but for me it is. I was sucked in by the color of it, but it doesn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination…”

  “Okay, I think we need to see this dress Isla. We’re going to have to hang out here while you get ready for sure.”

  I looked at Atticus as he pulled out his phone to text someone.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Telling Declan to bring our suits here. It is our rights as your husbands to see you before Lander does. Got to make sure he’ll be able to handle it, you know?”

  I rolled my eyes at him and giggled as I finished off my breakfast.

  “Oh please, you’ve seen it all now. There’s no mystery anymore.”

  “Excuse me woman, we’ve been married all of one day and you think I’m not already dyi
ng to see that sexy body of yours again? I don’t care that I’ve had it. When I’ve had you a thousand times I will still look at you like I’ve been chasing you for a dozen years. You’re fucking gorgeous. And youre fucking ours.”

  “What he said,” Atticus mumbled lamely.

  “Ugh. Fine. I need pants if you want me to walk inside and be around people though.”

  ✽✽✽

  A few hours later after I had been soaked, painted, prodded and had my hair tamed to within an inch of its life, I stood in front of the mirror in my last gown, shocked at the image in front of me. My eyes had been given a smoky silvery color that made my eyes really dramatic, and with the deep royal blue hue of my dress they looked almost alien.

  “Holy fuck.”

  I turned around to see my three husbands slack jawed and letting their eyes roam all over me.

  “If you weren’t going to marry our baby brother then I don’t think we would let you out of the house. Your body looks banging!”

  “Is it too much? Do you think Lander will hate it?”

  Declan walked forward with a predatory gleam in his eye. “Isla, you’re about to make him a very happy man.”

  “You sure? I’ve never worn anything that showed this much skin. My hair looks great but it’s completely off my shoulders so I don’t even have that to try and cover up some of this skin.”

  I turned back towards the mirror, angling this way and that to make sure nothing untoward would pop out. The royal blue gown was almost off the shoulder with a v neckline so low my belly button was nearly showing. The stylist had put some tape on the part that went over my breasts so there wouldn’t be any gaping or anything, but there were also lace patches on the hips and back that showed nothing but skin underneath. On top of that, it had ruches over my hips so tight that it felt like a second skin before flaring out above my knees and falling gracefully around my feet. Every dimple in my ass could be seen if you got close enough.

  “How are you even wearing underwear under that?” Atticus was drooling, I was pretty sure.