“Are you sure you want to share?” Rick asked, his tone droll.
“I do . . . want you both,” Summer said before realizing that Rick’s question had been directed at Declan, and now the two men’s gazes were locked in a challenge of some sort that she didn’t understand.
“Well, who are we to deny you the experience?” Declan drawled, as if to say, Challenge accepted to Rick.
Since she couldn’t make sense of whatever was happening between the two men, she sought to change the subject. “So, how long have the two of you been doing this? Sharing women, I mean.”
“Since we were teenagers,” Rick said without a pause.
Summer felt her eyes widen in shock. “Oh, wow, really?”
Rick nodded. “Yeah, the first time—”
“I don’t think she needs to hear all the sordid details,” Declan interrupted, his tone abrupt and gruff.
A slow, goading smile curved Rick’s lips. “I think she’d enjoy hearing all about them, wouldn’t you, Summer?”
“I want to know,” she said, nodding eagerly, even as Declan scowled at her enthusiastic response. “Especially the sordid details.”
Declan groaned and Rick laughed at his stepbrother’s chagrin.
“You’re much naughtier than you appear to be,” Rick said.
“Yeah, I kind of like being a bad girl.” And she was also enjoying the byplay between stepbrothers. Learning whatever she could about the two of them was a bonus.
“The first time it happened, I was nineteen, and Declan was seventeen,” Rick said, establishing that he was the older of the two of them. “Our parents were away for the weekend, and I thought that Declan was out with friends when I invited Vanessa over with the intention of us hooking up.”
“Was she your girlfriend?” Summer asked curiously.
“No, it was just a friends-with-benefits situation,” he explained, relaxing more comfortably in his seat, a slight reminiscent smile on his lips. “Anyway, I was up in my room sitting on a bean bag chair, and Vanessa was on her knees in front of me, completely naked as she sucked my cock, which she was extremely good at. The bedroom door was open a few inches, and I saw Declan standing there, watching us.”
She swept a teasing gaze up to Declan. “Ahhh, a voyeur, even as a teenager, huh?”
He shrugged. “I came home and heard sex noises coming from Rick’s room, so what else was I supposed to do but go and investigate?”
“But even after you found out what was going on, instead of leaving, you stayed,” Rick pointed out. “One hand rubbing your dick through your shorts and your gaze riveted on the way I fucked Vanessa’s mouth so deep she choked on the head every time it hit the back of her throat and how she kept shifting on her knees, spreading her legs wider against the hardwood floor and rolling her hips as through she needed a cock filling up her pussy, too.”
The dirty story played out in Summer’s mind, and she bit her bottom lip, wanting to know how it all ended. “What happened next?”
Rick dragged a hand along the slight stubble on his jaw, not doing anything to hide his grin. “Declan was so caught up in the moment that he let out a groan, which at first startled Vanessa. But when she looked behind her and saw who was standing just outside the cracked doorway, she wiggled her bare ass at Declan and asked if he wanted to join us. Needless to say, that was the first of many threesomes between us that summer, and from there, we’ve occasionally enjoyed sharing a woman. Though it’s not a necessity for us like it is for some guys who are looking for a legitimate triad relationship.”
She nodded in understanding. “While what we’re doing tonight is . . . fun, and incredibly hot, I’m not sure I could wrap my mind around a permanent, polyamorous relationship.”
“So, you’re a one-man type of woman?” Declan asked.
“When it comes to a committed relationship, yes,” she said, absently stroking a hand down Declan’s warm, bare chest. “I don’t think I’m the kind of woman who can love two men at the same time . . . forever. It all seems so complicated.”
“For people in the lifestyle, polyamory definitely has its own set of complications,” Rick agreed. “Especially when it comes to explaining things to family and friends.”
“I think my friends, who are also your friends and very open-minded, would be fine with it,” she said, her tone amused. “As for family . . . well, there’s no one close enough to me to care about what I do with my life, or with whom.”
Declan frowned down at her, his hand firm on her thigh beneath the blanket. “What do you mean?”
She hadn’t intended to delve into her less-than-idyllic past and familial situation, but considering the unyielding way Declan was staring at her, she didn’t think he’d let her brush off his query. “What I mean is, I don’t have any family or relatives who are a part of my life. My mother got pregnant with me when she was sixteen, and I never knew who my father was, so there was never any connection to his family. My grandma raised me since my mother had no interest in having a kid in her life. She died young, at the age of twenty-seven, from a drug overdose, and when I was nineteen, my grandmother passed away from breast cancer, leaving me on my own.”
“I’m sorry,” Declan murmured, genuine sympathy in his tone as he reached up and gently brushed a few strands of hair from her face. “That must have been difficult for you.”
It had actually been a devastating loss, but she chose to remember all the uplifting things about her childhood. Learning to bake from scratch, and her grandmother teaching her how to sew her own clothes and outfits for her dolls. She remembered the sunny days kneeling beside her grandmother as they tended to her garden and planted flowers every spring. And birthdays and Christmases that always made Summer feel special.
“Despite my mother’s choices, my grandma was always very good to me. I couldn’t have asked for someone more loving and caring during my formative and teenage years.”
“Have you always lived in San Diego?” Rick asked, drawing her attention back to him.
“No. I grew up in Spokane until . . .” She shook her head to cut off her words and pulled the blanket closer around her body, not wanting to talk about the reason why she’d left the state she’d grown up in.
Declan wasn’t letting her off so easily and clearly sensed there was more. Tucking his fingers beneath her chin, he turned her head back toward him so she had no choice but to meet his intense gaze. “Until what? And don’t tell me nothing unless you want me to paddle your ass until you can’t sit down for a week.”
Her eyes widened in shock at his adamant tone. He wasn’t joking. She might have enjoyed the playful swats of the crop, but the thought of a much larger and thicker implement tenderizing her backside made her hesitate. “Why does it matter?”
“Because you’re talking to someone who’s learned to read a person’s body language for a living,” Rick replied for Declan. “Along with someone who works for a security firm and knows when a person is evading something important. What made you leave the only place you’d known?”
She exhaled a deep breath and told them the truth. “I left Spokane because I wanted to start somewhere fresh and new after testifying against a guy my best friend at the time was dating. He assaulted her pretty badly, which I witnessed, and it was my testimony that helped put him away for a few years. After that happened, I finally decided to move to sunny, warm San Diego, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. My leaving is as simple as that.”