Who Falls Hardest (Clearwater University Book 3) Read online

  I choke out a surprised laugh. That wasn’t at all what I was expecting him to say—not that I had any idea what to expect. But jokes are good. I have a feeling he’s deflecting a little because he’s not quite ready to deal with what this means, what it could mean for all of us. How much it could change things between us, and the possibilities it would open up if we decide this is more than a one-time thing.

  “What about you?” I ask West, lifting my hand to run my fingertips down his cheek. He leans into my touch, and my heart thuds hard in my chest.

  God, I hope he’s okay with this.

  What Trent just said is true. That was the most intense orgasm of my life. But it’s not just that. It’s more than just the sex. I want this with both of them, and with Reese too. This moment in the afterglow when barriers are down and you feel as close as possible to another person.

  I want to have all three of the Icons in my life. In my heart. In my soul.

  West draws in a deep breath and releases it, and I feel the warmth of his exhale ghost over my skin. Then he reaches up to take my hand, kissing my palm before threading our fingers together.

  “I thought about this once,” he says quietly, and my eyes fly wide open. One corner of his mouth tilts up, and his gray irises churn like clouds drifting in the wind.

  “You did?” I whisper, hardly daring to breathe.

  “Yeah.”

  His gaze shifts from me to Trent, and a muscle in his jaw ticks. I know this is new territory for both of them. They’re both possessive, alpha men, so the idea of sharing anything is probably a bit foreign to them.

  But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

  “That day you and I fucked in the kitchen,” West continues, his voice deep and rough as he looks at me again. “You were so fucking gorgeous. So responsive. And I thought… I thought about what we could do to you if we worked together. All of us. How we could push you higher, take you to places you’d never been before. How we’d fucking worship you.”

  Trent makes a noise in his throat, and I glance over quickly, expecting to see him glaring at West or something.

  But he’s not.

  Instead, he’s looking at me, and the expression on his face makes me think he’s imagining all the different ways he and his friends could do just that.

  My pulse picks up, my body flushing as my pussy clenches. I’m still worn out, but just the feel of Trent’s gaze on me, the way he’s looking at me, makes me hungry for more.

  Maybe that’s the key, I realize.

  I never wanted to come between the Icons because I was afraid it would drive them apart. But maybe I’m supposed to be between them—as the lynchpin that holds them together.

  My breathing picks up, and I lift my head off the mattress to press a kiss to Trent’s lips, one hand still tangled up with West’s.

  “I care about you,” I whisper. “All three of you. We’ve been through so much shit, I think I was scared to rock the boat for a long time. But I can’t hide it or deny it anymore. This is what I want. I know it’s asking a lot, but I don’t ever want to choose between you. I want all of you. Just like this.”

  Something passes through his bright blue eyes, an emotion I can’t quite identify. But whatever it is, it’s strong enough that I feel it, like an electromagnetic pulse from his body.

  He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say anything, a new sound catches our attention, making us all turn our heads.

  It’s the heavy thud of the front door slamming shut.

  Reese is home.

  14

  Reese

  Fuck. What gave me the brilliant idea to register for a class that doesn’t even start until five o’clock?

  It doesn’t help that my last class of the day is also the most boring. By the time I walked out of the classroom, I felt like my eyes had permanently glazed over, and as I shove open the door to the house, I shake my head to clear it.

  I saw Emma’s bike out front, so I know she’s home already. I can’t wait to hear how her first day went. She was nervous this morning, but I’m sure she fucking killed it.

  As I step inside the front door, my gaze sweeps the living room.

  Huh. I’m surprised West isn’t sprawled on the couch with a beer in his hand.

  There is a beer bottle sitting on the coffee table, but I don’t see West anywhere. Or Trent. Or Emma.

  Something strange twists in my gut, and I close the door quietly behind me. The whole house seems weirdly silent, like it’s holding its breath or something. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling something is up.

  “Hey, guys!” I call out, tossing my keys on the little table. “You here?”

  A second later, Trent’s bedroom door opens, and I swear my heart just about stops.

  It’s not Trent who steps out, but Emma. And she’s not naked, but she’s not exactly dressed either. She’s wearing what looks like Trent’s shirt, which fits her almost like a short dress, coming down just below her ass to brush against her bare thighs. Her hair is tousled and messy, framing her head like a crooked halo, and her skin is flushed a gorgeous pink.

  She looks hot as hell.

  And thoroughly fucked.

  Piercing jealousy surges through me, and I feel myself stiffen as she pads softly toward me.

  I know, I know. We all fucking agreed to this. And I know I had a moment with her in my bedroom just a few days ago. But the thought of Trent bringing her into his room and doing all the things to her that I want to do makes me want to march in there, grab the fucker, and settle this with our fists.

  “Hey, Reese,” Emma murmurs quietly, stopping just a few feet away from me.

  Now that she’s closer, the sweet scent that’s uniquely her tickles my nostrils, along with the unmistakable musk of arousal and sex. My cock twitches, even as my hands ball into fists.

  “Hey,” I reply, doing my best to keep my voice even. We all agreed to be cool about this, and the last thing I want to do is make Emma feel like shit just because me and my friends can’t work our issues out. “What’s up?”

  She smiles like she sees right through me. Like she knows exactly what I’m thinking. Then she steps forward, closing the last bit of space between us and wrapping her arms around my waist. My own arms band around her automatically, a knee-jerk response to having her this close.

  “I think you can probably guess the answer to that,” she whispers. Her fingers drift softly over the muscles of my back, and she rises up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to my lips.

  I can guess. I already have. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what she was just doing, and even though possessiveness and envy make my chest feel tight, it doesn’t stop me from kissing her back. If anything, I kiss her harder, with that much more desperation and need.

  She pulls away before we can lose ourselves in it though, her lips a little swollen and her brown eyes gleaming as she gazes up at me.

  “I came home from work and… something happened.” She pulls her lower lip between her teeth, a gesture that I think is due to nerves but that only serves to make my stiffening cock that much harder. “It all sort of happened so fast, and it wasn’t what I planned, but it was what I wanted. I had sex with Trent… and West.”

  My head jerks back slightly as my eyebrows shoot up.

  Uh, okay, so I was wrong. I thought I knew exactly what she was just doing, but…

  Trent and West? Holy fucking shit.

  The jealousy roiling in my stomach tightens into a hard lump, and my body goes rigid.

  Fucking hell. This is some kind of goddamn bullshit.

  It was one thing when it was all three of us competing with each other for her, but now Trent and West have teamed up? She picked both of them?

  Where the hell does that leave me?

  “Oh.” My jaw clenches, and I can hear the stiffness in my own voice. “Okay. Then I guess I’ll just—”

  “Reese.” Emma tightens her grip on me, not letting me pull away. Her body is warm and soft aga
inst mine, and when she rose up on her tiptoes to kiss me, the shirt she’s wearing shifted upward, leaving the rounded curves of her ass exposed.

  Unconsciously, I grip her tighter, my hands skimming over her body. “Yeah? What?”

  “Will you come with me?”

  My brows furrow as I narrow my eyes. Come with her? Where?

  I don’t really want to. I want to get the hell out of this house and clear my head—or march into the bedroom and take on both Trent and West. If it’s two against one, I know they’ll beat me, but right now my blood is running hot enough that I don’t really care. Just so long as I get in a few good shots, that’d be enough for me.

  But I don’t know if I could ever deny Ems anything. So when she steps back and takes my hand, I follow her.

  She leads me toward the door she just came from, the one that leads to Trent’s room, and I slow my steps, tugging her to a stop until she turns around and looks at me.

  “Just trust me, alright? Please?” she asks, and the vulnerability in her voice cuts through everything else.

  Gritting my teeth, I nod. I have no idea what the fuck she’s planning, and I swear to God, if either Trent or West starts to gloat because she picked them, I will kick their asses, consequences be damned.

  Ems grips my hand tightly, her small fingers interlaced with mine as she opens the bedroom door.

  The room smells like sex, the scent even more noticeable in here than it was when I caught a hint of it lingering on Emma’s skin. Trent and West are both inside. They’ve got jeans on, but no shirts, and they’re eyeing each other warily from either side of the bed.

  Well, good. At least they’re not all buddy-buddy with each other. That evens the playing field a little.

  Although, to be honest, I’m not quite sure what field we’re playing on anymore. What exactly is going on here?

  Emma takes in the sight of West and Trent and lets out a small sigh, her shoulders slumping a little. Then she turns to me, her chocolate brown eyes wide and serious.

  “I told West and Trent this, and it’s about time I came clean with you too. I’ve been dancing around it for way too long, but the truth is, it’s not just that I don’t know how to choose between the three of you. It’s that I don’t want to. I want all of you. Together. Separately. I want all of us”—she gestures around the room, encompassing everyone in it—“to be a thing.”

  My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline, and I whip my head up to glance at Trent and West. Neither of them seem surprised to hear it, which makes sense if Emma already broached this with them.

  All of us? Together? The three of us sharing Emma?

  The thought pings around in my head like a stray bullet, and I scrub a hand down my face, trying to sort out my thoughts.

  My initial reaction is no fucking way. I don’t share. I’ve never shared. What’s mine is mine, and any dude who touches it had better watch the fuck out.

  But then again, West and Trent aren’t just any dudes. They’re my best friends, the two guys who have been with me through everything, who know me better than anyone else in the world. They’re not strangers. They’re practically parts of myself.

  And I’ve felt us splintering apart over the past few months. I honestly worried that our friendship wouldn’t be able to survive all of this.

  Maybe Emma has the perfect answer to that.

  Share.

  I swallow, my jaw clenching as silence fills the room.

  Ems draws in a deep breath. Her gaze flicks from me to Trent and West.

  “I know it’s different. I don’t have any friends who are in poly relationships. But who cares if it’s not what everyone else is doing? That doesn’t matter if it’s what we want.” She takes a step forward, her voice gaining strength. “I know you both liked it. Trent, you said so yourself. And West, you said you’ve already considered this. That you thought about it before. All I’m asking is that you keep thinking about it. Because I have, and I’m sure.” She squares her shoulders. “This is what I want.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I hold up my hands, making a T shape. “Okay, time out. I get what you’re saying here, Ems, but how would this even work? I mean, to be honest, every fantasy I’ve ever had about a four-way involved a lot more girls than guys, if you know what I mean.”

  A snort-laugh bursts from Emma’s lips before she can hold it in, and when she turns to me, I can see a smile teasing the corners of her lips.

  Good. This situation is so fucking strange, I’m glad I could lighten the moment a little.

  As I watch, the smile blooms even brighter across her face, and she cocks her head slightly, her hands fiddling with the edges of Trent’s large shirt. “It could be good, Reese. It could be mind-blowing. For all of us. Can I show you?”

  I may not exactly be on board with this yet, but when the girl of your fucking dreams gives you a look like that and asks if they can show you something, you sure as hell say yes.

  Licking my suddenly dry lips, I nod. West and Trent are both watching her intently too, and when she crawls up onto the rumpled blankets on the bed, I catch a glimpse of her bare pussy and ass. My breath picks up a little as my cock stiffens, straining against the confines of my pants.

  Jesus. That’s gotta be one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen.

  There’s something both demure and sinful about it, and without even meaning to, I take a step closer to the bed. All three of us are now surrounding the bed on three sides, and I can tell my two friends are getting just as turned on as I am as we watch Emma settle onto the mattress, her head resting on a pillow.

  She bites her lip, her own chest rising and falling faster as she slowly spreads her legs, inviting all of us to look. Her pussy lips are pink and flushed, and I can tell she’s already been fucked today.

  But strangely, knowing West or Trent—or maybe both—already had her doesn’t make me want her any less. If anything, it makes me want her more. Makes me want to claim my turn.

  “It would be easy. There are so many ways we could do this,” Emma murmurs. As she speaks, one hand trails down her flat stomach, pulling up the shirt a little higher before her fingers slide between her folds, teasing her clit and dipping inside her pussy. “There are so many ways you could share me.”

  God, my dick could punch a fucking hole in a wall right now.

  Emma is hot as hell, and I love how responsive she is in bed, but this? This is next level shit. I’ve never seen her take control like this, and I kind of fucking love it.

  Her fingers move faster over her clit, and she opens her legs wider. She’s giving us a show, I realize. Letting us all watch her, letting us all have this piece of her.

  And it’s working. Watching her hips shift back and forth on the mattress as she chases her own touch has my heart hammering like a drum in my chest. I thought it would be awkward as hell to have an orgy with my two best friends, but with Emma splayed out in front of us like this, all my focus is on her, just like theirs is.

  “Reese,” she pants. “West and Trent fucked me. One after the other, taking turns to be inside me. I could still feel each of them when the other was in me, and it was incredible. There was only one thing missing.”

  Her free hand is massaging her breast through the soft fabric of the t-shirt now, and her knees are slightly bent as her hips arch up off the bed in rhythmic motions.

  I can’t help it. I’m about to fucking die if I don’t do something. Reaching down, I palm my dick through my jeans, rubbing up and down in short strokes just to relieve a little of the ache.

  “What, Ems?” I rasp. “What was missing?”

  “You.” Her eyes are like dark pools as she gazes at me, her fingers circling faster and faster on her clit. “I wanted you inside me too.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  My hand works my dick harder, and out of the corner of my eye, I’m vaguely aware that Trent and West are stroking themselves too. I can’t blame them. I feel like I’m about to explode.

  “You did?�
�� My voice is like fucking sandpaper.

  She nods, the movement jerky. “Yes. I need you so much. Will you fuck me now, Reese? I want Trent and West to watch. To touch themselves while you fuck me.”

  Trent makes a strangled noise in his throat, and West squeezes his dick through his pants, his entire body rigid. But neither of them object.

  My focus zeroes in on Emma again, and it’s not even a question. Even if my mind wanted to object, my body would refuse to listen to that order. I need to be inside her. Now.

  With one hand, I reach up and yank my shirt over my head. Fire burns in Emma’s eyes as she mirrors my action, pulling off Trent’s oversized shirt. She’s completely naked now, and her nipples are peaked and dusky, so goddamn gorgeous my mouth practically waters.

  Moving quickly, I fumble with the button and fly of my pants, kicking off my shoes before I shove everything down my legs, letting my cock spring free. It’s a relief not to have it confined by my jeans anymore, but I need more than that. I need to feel Emma’s sweet warmth wrapped around me.

  I hear clothing rustling on either side of me as I climb onto the bed, crawling up between Emma’s knees as West and Trent kick their pants off too. She wraps her arms around me when I drape my body over hers, her lips ghosting over my skin, tasting my shoulder, my neck, my earlobe.

  A shudder runs through me at the feel of her soft mouth on my skin, and my throbbing cock nudges her entrance.

  She’s wet.

  So wet.

  I can feel her slick juices coating the head of my shaft, and as I press inside her slowly, she lets out a moan that seems to come from the very depths of her soul.

  Twin groans sound from either side of us, and a shift of the mattress lets me know Trent and West are on the bed now too. Emma keeps her arms twined around my neck, but she lifts her head, her gaze shifting back and forth to take in my two friends.

  Whatever she sees, it makes her pussy clench hard around me. She bites her lip, whimpering softly.