Project MANagement Read online

  Larry didn’t give me time to dwell on it. He put his hands lightly on my shoulders and twisted me around so he stood behind me. Both arms went around my waist, and then one moved down between my legs. He started petting and stroking me. He stood so stiffly behind me that every muscle that touched me felt tense, coiled. I think he touched me as much to comfort and reassure himself as to arouse me. Perversely, my body wept with desire for him.

  I stretched my arms back, laid my hands on the outside of his hips, and rubbed them up and down, seeking to ease that tension.

  To feel him vulnerable, to know they were all tense, worried about this unnamed something, opened wide the crack in my heart. Before that night, I’d felt affection, combined with some irritation and a whole lot of lust for the trio, but now I teetered on the edge of love. Is that what this was all about? Fun, with these guys, sure. But love? Was even one of them ready to be serious beneath the joking and games? And if they were, how could someone not get hurt?

  Questions raced through my mind and almost prevented me from hearing Larry.

  “We’ve all wanted you. I guess that was pretty apparent every time you saw any of us. None of us pressed for more than a few kisses, because we all wanted you too much. We assumed you would choose one and exclude the other two. That was unthinkable, though. But the longer we dated, the more it seemed you really liked us all. We noticed the speculation in your eyes when you stole peeks from your date of the night to the other two ‑‑ and we began to hope.”

  My breath caught momentarily, pushing back the fire Larry had ignited with his gentle touch. Was this it? They had been afraid I would reject them all ‑‑ offended at the thought of sharing a night with them all? After what they had seen in that room, didn’t they realize that it was a fantasy come to life for me?

  “Larry...” I tried to speak, but he covered my lips with his fingers.

  “No, just listen, and watch a little longer, and let us know if you can ‑‑ if you might ‑‑ consider being a part of us.”

  I wanted to scream “Watch? I’m blindfolded here!” A muffled croak was all that got out. I couldn’t say a word. Larry kept his fingers pressed over my lips.

  “Let me finish.” He paused so long that I didn’t think he would continue. All I could hear was the increasingly harsh breathing of Stanley and John.

  “I…” For once, Larry seemed unsure of what to say.

  “Take her mask off, Larry. Let her see.” John’s voice was rough, and even deeper than usual.

  Larry’s hands squeezed convulsively, making me startle slightly. He smoothed over my skin in a mute apology, and then glided up to loosen the ribbons and remove the mask. My head turned, automatically trying to follow his hand.

  For a moment the bright light pierced my eyes, making them water after so long in the dark. I blinked, and then focused. There was a long wooden table surrounded by black padded desk chairs above a solid deep blue carpet, a typical meeting room setup. I turned my head back to the front.

  I gasped; it was not what I had expected at all.

  Not two feet in front of me, Stanley stood nude in John’s arms, his head back against John’s shoulder. His brown eyes, although partially dazed by passion, still contained an alert, wary edge. His light brown chest, partially covered by John’s darker arm, rose and fell with each harsh breath.

  The muscles of John’s arm stood out in stark detail, the tips of his fingers paled where they pressed against Stanley’s chest, holding his writhing form close. John’s other hand was wrapped around Stanley’s cock, pumping while Stanley thrust into John’s hand.

  Larry’s hands rhythmically rubbed over my thighs and hips like he was trying to quiet a skittish animal he feared would run.

  I was too shocked to consider moving. Thinking quickly back, I could remember nothing to suggest they were anything but friends. Was I blind even without my mask? No. I’d heard rumors that sometimes they liked to share a woman, but there was nothing ‑‑ nothing ‑‑ about this.

  Stanley reached up, taking hold of John’s head, and tilted his own head up. Their lips met with a groan of hunger, I couldn’t tell from which. Together, they were a picture of brutal beauty and fierce desire. When the kiss ended, Stanley let his head drop back against John’s shoulder, his eyes almost closed.

  John looked up at me, passion and questions written on his face.

  God, his face, so beautiful, so open to me. His trust broke open everything I could have, would have, warily held back. I closed the jaw I didn’t realize had dropped. I looked down at the wet, gleaming tip of Stanley’s cock as he still thrust in John’s hand, and I found my tongue snaking out to lick my lip.

  They wanted me. “Take us.” Larry had said. They trusted me enough to share this and invite me into it. The desire my shock had covered came roaring back with needful vengeance.

  “Yes.” I reached out and Stanley leaned forward to take my hands. “Yes, I want you. Yes, I’ll share this with you.”

  “Thank God.” Larry’s voice was little more than a whisper behind me. He pressed kisses between my shoulders, then up to the base of my neck. One hand went back to my pussy, caressing the wet folds. Pleasure joined with the desire humming through my body. Larry penetrated me with one finger, then two, stroking in and out while grinding the heel of his hand against my clit. I bent over with the pleasure, on the edge of coming when he took his hand away. His blunt tip moved against me, then burrowed in, stretching my body to accommodate his.

  Stanley bent with me. His fingers intertwined with mine, his gaze locked to mine. My eyes went wide and I moaned with the pleasure of Larry’s penetration. Stanley swallowed the sound in a kiss that no longer asked, but took. His tongue hungrily tangled with mine, stroking, tasting until he pulled back with a gasp of his own.

  I looked over his shoulder to see John holding Stanley's hips and slowly pumping into him. An inarticulate sound of pleasure escaped Stanley’s lips, and this time I was the aggressor, taking back his lips as my own moans slipped past my lips with each of Larry’s thrusts into my body.

  Larry reached around me to circle then pinch my clit, forcing me over the edge into climax. I cried out into Stanley’s mouth, unable to contain the screams as release raged through my body. Larry’s thrusts becoming more urgent, pushing me further along until his grip on the outside of my hip grew almost cruel. He ground himself against me and the hot liquid of his release filled me. After a last push into me, he slipped free. His body blazed with heat as he leaned over, placing more kisses between my shoulders.

  Stanley broke free of our kiss. His face twisted into an agony of pleasure. I could see John behind him. John’s slow pumping had become a pounding rhythm, and his strong hands held Stanley in place as he threw back his head in a cry of intense pleasure.

  He pulled away from Stanley who stood, still rampant with unsated need.

  “Please.” The need in his voice called to me and I fell to my knees. Without pausing a moment, I took his cock into my hand and then my mouth. I swirled my tongue around the tip then took him deeper, sucking up and down his generous length. Already at the edge, I felt him throb, ready to come. I took a deep breath then took him all the way in until my face touched his groin. Then I swallowed, squeezing him in my throat. He shouted, grabbing my head while his hips pulsed against my lips, his cum shooting inside.

  Chapter Four

  Stanley’s hands still pressed against the sides of my face. The look of raw wonder on his face caused my heart to fill.

  Wait. What was happening to me? Panic hit me. This depth of emotion was not part of my plan. Confused, I fell back on the lighthearted teasing that felt comfortable. I licked my lips and put my best naughty grin in place, but Stanley was having none of it.

  He fell to his knees in front of me and eased his hands down to my waist. The look of total concentration on his face caught me while he pulled me close, placing my head against his shoulder. It was a good thing I was already kneeling because I couldn’t stand
.

  Larry joined us on the floor. His belly pressed close from behind.

  Two sets of male arms held me close. Their bodies formed a tender cage. Unsure, I froze under their gently stroking fingers and intermingled words of praise. A wet, salty drop ran over my lips. I was crying.

  “John, get back out here.”

  Stanley’s command had me looking around the room. John stepped through a door in the back of the room. Water glistened on his skin. I realized the other room was an executive washroom.

  “Belle? Belle?” Stanley nuzzled my cheek. “Are you okay?”

  Mutely, I turned my head back into his shoulder and nodded, then changed to shake my head no instead. This was too much! I didn’t know what I was doing anymore, so I just grabbed Stanley closer.

  A body blocked the light. John knelt down with us.

  “Belle, come here.”

  Larry’s arms slid away from my back as Stanley urged me away.

  Dark skin still glistening with droplets of water, John took me into his arms and cuddled me for a long moment. There was something so solid about him, not just the mass of his muscled body, but the man within. He didn’t waver. I could always trust his calm, measured support.

  “Shh, it’s okay, Belle; you were meant to be with us.

  “Here, let me wash you.” John pressed a warm cloth between my legs. I felt three sets of eyes on me and blushed against John’s shoulder. The rich scent of his skin calmed me better than any aromatherapy.

  I twisted in his arms, now ready to face my stooges again. John sat back, pulling me back also to sit between his outstretched legs. His arms wrapped around my waist and held me firmly to his body.

  From that place of security, I was able to marshal my thoughts. I tried to look serious, but serious while naked and being held like some long-lost toy was damned hard to carry off. “Okay, guys, I think some explanation is in order here.”

  Stanley’s eyes twinkled as he leaned forward on his hands and knees to place a kiss against the mouth that I was attempting to hold in a serious, flat line.

  “Better.”

  I snapped open the eyes I realized had fallen to a half-mast position. His grin was full of mischief as he backed away.

  I shook my head to focus once more and crossed my arms above John’s.

  “Well?” I tried once more for the I’m in control of this meeting look.

  Stanley took my feet into his lap and removed the shoes. Then, in another move designed to turn my brain to goo, he started massaging one foot. He was really good at it too. Shameless manipulator!

  This was totally unfair.

  Stanley didn’t reply. He looked at Larry, who looked over my shoulder toward John in one of those silent communications I’d seen them share before. Apparently, John gave him the go-ahead signal because a solemn-faced Larry nodded.

  He absently rubbed a hand along the leg Stanley held before pulling his hands back to his sides to begin.

  “Stanley, John and I all moved to Central the summer before seventh grade. In fact, we moved to the same subdivision within a few weeks of each other.

  “When we met, we just meshed as if we’d always belonged together. All of us were skinny geeks from out of town and in a school that worshipped jocks, even in junior high. We were our own clique.

  “John’s yard had a clubhouse under a big elm tree, left by some previous owner. We made it our own. We fixed it up and added three wide benches around the sides with scavenged cushions from old lawn furniture for beds. After lots of lectures on fire safety, our folks even let us have a fire pit in the middle.”

  Even if I hadn’t already known, I could tell this was important. I could tell by the way Stanley held my foot, but wouldn’t look in my eyes. I could tell by the way John held me tightly to him like he was afraid I would now freak out and run. I could tell by the way Larry wasn’t touching me at all, his hands clenched on the floor beside his rigid, kneeling figure.

  “We’d hang out, do homework, and talk about girls and how great we were gonna be with them, once they clued in and started noticing us. We started out just jerking off with our stash of magazines, sayin’ what we would do, and how much they would love it.

  “Gradually, it changed.

  “We started daring each other to show, not just tell. We’d help each other get off and practice for the real deal later with girls. It felt good, too good to give up once we’d filled out enough for the girls to start noticing us.”

  Now Larry’s hands were touching me too, restlessly stroking my legs as if seeking to soothe both me and himself. I wanted to tell him it was okay, that I felt privileged to be taken into their confidence this way, but I didn’t want to break the spell. I kept quiet and let him continue.

  “There were a few more adventurous girls who had sex with more than one of us at once, but none of those girls ever saw us touch each other. For a long time, we weren’t ready to admit that what we have together is more than just fun, just convenient, and, until tonight, there wasn’t anyone else with whom we shared the other part.”

  Larry looked at me then, defiant but vulnerable. I gave him back steady eyes to show I was listening and not rejecting him or any of them. He broke eye contact, and squeezed the flesh just above my knee like a thank you he couldn’t voice.

  “After high school, we planned to all go to college together, get engineering degrees. I guess we figured we would still wind up with the standard American dream: job, marriage, house, and kids. Then I found out I wouldn’t be going straight to college after all. My parents went belly-up with debt, and declared bankruptcy. Our whole life had been a lie, a deceit. All the money I’d saved for school went to help them.”

  With a shrug, Larry dismissed it as though his sacrifice was no big deal. My heart ached for him.

  “I joined the army so I could go to college. The time apart ‑‑ what I saw ‑‑ it changed me and what I wanted.”

  “And Larry’s letters changed us.” Stanley cocked his head in thought, his hands still rhythmically rubbing my foot. “No, really it focused more than changed us. We realized what we had wasn’t just some second-rate backup. Once we got back together, we weren’t going to give it up. That didn’t mean we didn’t still like women.” For a moment his grin was back in place. “And none of us were from backgrounds that exactly accepted guys being more than just friends, so…”

  “We stayed best friends, and only that, as far as everyone else was concerned.” John’s voice rumbled in my ear and vibrated through his chest behind me. “It’s been good, but it’s time for a change.”

  I had stayed, outwardly at least, pretty calm through Larry and Stanley’s story. God, I wanted to ask so much! I bit my lip to hold the questions in. It was rare for them to be serious for so long. I was afraid anything from me would cause them to retreat to humor.

  How did I fit in with this? What were they proposing? It wasn’t as if I could marry all three.

  My heart thudded like crazy then. They were getting to the point.

  John gave me a little hug, and then brushed my hair back with one hand to expose my neck to his whisper-soft kiss. I reached up to cuddle his head closer. My eyes drifted shut for a moment before he straightened back up.

  “We’ve decided to quit hiding. We were going to give you a little nudge ‑‑ okay, a big nudge ‑‑ tonight to test the waters. You seemed like you might be open to the idea of being touched by more than one of us, but we couldn’t be sure how you would take that” ‑‑ I felt his shrug ‑‑ “let alone, how you would react to the three of us together in other ways.

  “Tonight” ‑‑ I felt him shrug again behind me ‑‑ “there was something magical tonight. Christmas maybe? We couldn’t wait.

  “The thing is…we want you to stay. Live with us. Be our girl…and, when you’re ready, marry one of us.”

  Wow!

  Stanley leaned up briefly to put a hand under my gaping jaw and close it. He had a glimmer of his usual joking twinkle in his eyes
. “Surprised you, huh?”

  That was an understatement. These guys had gone from teasingly casual to a triple proposal in one night. And they claimed my schedules were tight!

  “Yes.”

  Was that me speaking?

  Old Three’s Company reruns aside, this was an arrangement that was bound to raise a few eyebrows, especially as people understood exactly what the arrangement was. Was the heat I would get, and possible damage to my career, worth the risk? My gut ‑‑ and other assorted body parts ‑‑ screamed yes.

  My instincts have never led me wrong. I was willing to bet they were dead-on this time as well. However, I would negotiate my terms; a good project manager knows it’s always best to get a deal’s requirements set from the start. Naked negotiations? Hmm, this could be the trend of the future. Inwardly I smiled while trying to maintain a tough exterior.

  “Yes.” I repeated more forcefully.

  At that single word from me, Larry pinned me with an eagle-eye. He seemed not quite convinced. I could take care of that.

  I stretched my arms above my head and my legs straight out in front, feeling like a cat about to roll in some especially inviting catnip.

  Larry and Stanley exchanged suspicious looks. I heard John catch his breath in my ear.

  “Of course, if you want me to give up all the quiet personal space that my apartment offers for the crowded environment of your townhouse, we’ll have to talk project parameters first.”

  Now the looks that they exchanged were purely evil, purely male, and purely confident. Better. By the time I'm done, they won't doubt my commitment to this project. They each slid a hand up a leg toward my inner thigh.

  Larry leaned up. For a moment, all masks dropped; his expression was all predatory male. “Negotiate at will, sweetheart.” He sucked a nipple into his mouth with a happy moan.

  Intense pleasure shot from my nipple to my pussy, and I flexed my hips in response, in longing.

  “Yes, you have my complete attention.” Stanley had moved between my parted legs and stared straight down at my exposed pussy. He stretched forward, holding the lips apart a moment before taking me with his mouth, lovingly lapping and sucking the sensitive flesh.