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  “She’s a woman on a mission to get to her best friend’s side.” He chuckled. “Thank you for not letting her and Ross take a propane torch to me.”

  “I couldn’t have let them do that to you.” She fingered her fluorite pendant that was her day collar from him. “I would have felt too guilty. I’m not entirely sure Landry wouldn’t have let them.”

  “He let Ross gut-punch me, so yeah, I’m betting he might have.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tilly and the men spent the day rearranging things. With Loren coming to stay for a while, they went back to converting the office to a nursery. Cris and Tilly went out to buy a dresser and changing table to fit in there while Landry stayed home with the baby.

  It was almost nine p.m. local time when Loren’s flight touched down. Tilly was waiting for her and engulfed her in a long, tearful hug when she emerged into the main terminal.

  “I’m not ashamed to admit I need you right now,” she whispered to Loren.

  Loren held her, stroking her hair. “I know, sweetie. I could tell. How are your guys?”

  “Amazing. But it’s not the same.”

  “I brought three suitcases. I hope your car will hold them. I came ready for a long stay. Ross had to help me pack to make it to the airport on time.”

  “Good. Because I don’t want you to leave any time soon.”

  Loren hadn’t eaten yet, and it was nearly midnight Florida time. Tilly called Landry to let him know she’d arrived and they stopped for sushi after leaving the airport.

  Tilly let Loren scroll through her phone, the pictures and videos. “Oh my god, she’s adorable!”

  “I know, right?” Tilly pinched a piece of California roll between her chopsticks, dredged it through soy sauce, and stuck it in her mouth. “Hell, she looks a lot like Cris. I saw his baby pics. It’s uncanny.”

  “Family resemblance.” She finally returned the phone to Tilly. “So for the foreseeable future…”

  “Yeah.” Tilly snagged a piece of sashimi. “Cris swears he won’t let Sofia get custody back until he’s certain she can take care of her.”

  “Well, I never thought I’d ever see the day where I’d say, ‘Go, Cris.’” She smiled, making Tilly laugh.

  “See, I told you so.”

  “Yes, you did. But you can’t blame me and Ross for hating him when he came back.” Loren used her fingers instead of chopsticks.

  “I don’t blame you. I would have done the same damn thing.”

  “Glad you don’t hold it against us.”

  “Never. You’re my best friends.”

  “So when is her court date?”

  “A week from next Wednesday.” Tilly ate another piece of sashimi. “Longest eleven days of my life, I think.”

  “You’re not horrible for hoping she stays in jail.”

  Tilly froze. “You been taking Dom lessons from Ross or something?”

  Loren grinned. “No. I just know you really well.” Her smile faded. “Because I would be thinking the same thing. Any rational person in this situation would think that.”

  “Any rational person wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place,” Tilly countered.

  “Don’t be so sure. Everyone has a relative or a friend who can’t get their shit together.”

  “Guess I was that friend for a while.” Tilly grinned before she popped another piece of sushi in her mouth.

  “But you got better,” Loren teased, their old, familiar joke.

  “Sometimes, I wonder if I did. I look at this life I’ve built and wonder how the fuck I got here, and when the fuck are they going to come in, declare me a faker, and take it all away from me.”

  “They won’t,” Loren said. “Trust me. Been there, done that. You’ve earned what you have with blood and sweat. Literally. Two great guys, and now…” Loren’s voice trailed off.

  “Now,” Tilly said. “That’s the problem. Is she my daughter? What is she?”

  “She’s a baby who doesn’t care who you or your guys are, only that you’re loving her and taking care of her. And that’s what’s important. What she calls you or what you call her is irrelevant.”

  “I still don’t understand how someone gets to that point,” Tilly said. “Even at my lowest point, I had a shred of self-preservation.”

  “She had enough to force her to make the call. Enough to remember a phone number when most people never would have. All those years, Cris kept that number. I thought he had a local phone number?”

  “He does. He still paid for that number and had it forwarded to his phone.”

  “Stupid question, and a little bit off-topic, but when Landry had his accident. When Cris went back. Why didn’t they call him on that number?”

  “Because he never gave that number to anyone else. He’d stopped using it when he met Lan and moved in with him and got a new phone. Only Sofia still had it. Well, and his mom and any other family who might have had it.”

  “So all this time, he kept that phone number active…just in case she called him?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you guys know about it?”

  “Landry did. I didn’t until this happened. Landry wrapped it in with their corporate account for Cris.”

  “They were trying to hide it?”

  “No, they honestly hadn’t thought to tell me about it.” She picked up another piece of sushi with her chopsticks. “Honestly, it’s okay. I know they weren’t trying to pull anything.”

  “You asked them?”

  “Hell yeah, I asked.” Tilly ate the piece of sushi. “I asked if there were any other little surprises for me to know about. They swear that’s it, that’s the only one.”

  “And you believe them?”

  “I have to. I love them. Why, don’t you think I should?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Loren said. “It’s more me hoping you believe them, because when I look back at what Landry engineered to get you and Cris back together, it’s pretty fucking amazing. Other than the years of suffering you had to go through.”

  “Yeah. Real Romeo and Juliet. Without the suicide. And Romeo’s best buddy, Leroy.”

  “Leeeeroooy Jenkins,” Loren said with a grin, making them both laugh at the old joke.

  “Take every day as it comes,” Loren said when they’d both stopped laughing. “That’s all you can do. And I’ll be here with you, every step of the way.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me, kiddo,” Loren said. “That’s what friends do for each other.”

  * * * *

  Landry had instructed Tilly to let them know when she was about five minutes away. Cris met them downstairs to help with the luggage.

  Loren greeted him with a hug. “Glad she didn’t let me neuter you,” she teased.

  He laughed. “That makes two of us.”

  The baby was asleep in her crib, but Landry insisted Loren could go in and see her.

  “She’s adorable!” Loren whispered, holding onto Tilly.

  “I know, right?”

  The women stood there for a long moment in silence. Loren tipped her head over onto Tilly’s shoulder. When she spoke, it was a whisper Tilly knew her men, standing in the doorway, couldn’t hear.

  “Don’t let her go, babe,” Loren said. “Whatever you do, hold on tight. Whatever I have to do to help, name it. If you need Ross to help find an attorney, or whatever, it’s done.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  After getting Loren settled in the guest room, Tilly collapsed onto their bed in the master bedroom.

  Tonight, the men snuggled her in the middle. Cris would take the next morning shift.

  “How long is she staying, love?” Landry asked.

  “As long as I can get her to,” Tilly said.

  “She’ll end up helping us move.”

  “Probably.”

  “At least we’ll have plenty of room,” Landry said.

  “Time for us to start making play dates when
we get back to Florida,” she said.

  “Yeah,” Cris said. “I think her calendar book will be filled.”

  “Pre-school,” Tilly moaned. “We’ve got to start looking.”

  “Too soon,” the men said in unison.

  “She’s only two weeks old,” Cris added. “There’s plenty of time for pre-school decisions.”

  As Tilly closed her eyes, it didn’t escape her notice that he didn’t add a caveat to that caution.

  * * * *

  Tilly didn’t know if her lack of nightmares was due to Loren’s presence or because she was growing used to the situation. But when she awoke a little after seven Sunday morning, she was alone in bed and felt like she’d had the best night’s sleep in days.

  Maybe because she had.

  She heard voices out in the kitchen and smelled coffee. After using the bathroom and pulling on a robe, she made her way out to the kitchen. There, Loren was holding the baby and feeding her while Landry and Cris sat at the table.

  “Ah. That explains the late sleeping.”

  “Aunt Loren is still on Florida time,” she said with a smile. “So I was already awake when I heard her wake up. Yes I was.” She leaned in and kissed the baby’s forehead.

  Yep. God help Sofia if she got out of jail while Loren was there. Loren would tear her a new one for allowing the situation to go on as long as it did, as well as a long strip out of her hide to remember the lesson by.

  Cris started to get up but Tilly patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Sir. I’ll get my own coffee this morning.” With Loren in the house, Tilly knew she needed the day of downtime.

  Time spent not being strong.

  She knew she’d have countless days ahead of her where she’d have to be strong, maybe stronger than she’d ever had to be before in her life.

  And that was saying something, with all the shit she’d survived.

  For today, she just wanted to be Redbird, and feel safe with her men and her best friend. To not think about anything. To not ponder the what-ifs.

  To not think about a day where Sofia might get her shit together and take this precious little bundle of hope away from her.

  And she didn’t want to think about what a shitty person that made her for wanting this to never end.

  * * * *

  Landry and Cris still had a changing table to assemble and a home office to rearrange. They could shift the sofa around in the living room and make room to move the desk out there. It would do until their move to the new condo.

  A move Tilly dictated they’d handle themselves and not hire movers.

  When Loren arched an eyebrow at her, Tilly shrugged. “I don’t want movers pawing through our stuff. Look at how much we have. Honestly. Between us, Lucas, Nick, and a couple of guys from Cris and Landry’s office, we’ve got this handled at a fraction of the cost.”

  “And twice the backache,” Loren snarked.

  “You don’t understand what the paparazzi are like around here.”

  “I know you’re a little obsessive about saving money sometimes. And worrying about things that don’t really matter in the long run.”

  The men exchanged a knowing look.

  “Oh, don’t give me that,” Tilly said to the men. “You think I’m going to give in because Loren said so, don’t you?”

  The men laughed.

  Tilly sighed. “Fuck.”

  “Language,” Loren teasingly warned. “Little pitchers.”

  Tilly slid into a seat at the table. “Okay, fine. We’ll hire movers.” She jabbed a finger at Landry. “It’s on your head if some weird-ass story hits the news.”

  “Why my fault?”

  “Because I said so. And you’re the Master, that’s why.”

  He smirked. “I thought you didn’t want me Domming you.”

  “Well, you’re on top by default.” She stuck her tongue out.

  Loren snorted. “You’re living dangerously, sweetie. I have no doubts those two need absolutely no reason to put you in your place.”

  Landry grabbed Tilly by the hair and pulled her in close. “She’s right, you know. And with Loren here, there’s nothing to stop me from taking you into the bedroom and giving you a good hard spanking right now.”

  Tilly swallowed hard. “Um, no, Sir.”

  He looked at Cris. “Did that sound like consent to you?”

  “She knows how to say red,” Cris said.

  “Go play, guys,” Loren said. “Me and the peanut need some quality time together.”

  * * * *

  Tonight, Landry determined it would be Cris in the middle of the sandwich, with Tilly on the bottom. Cris slid his cock inside her and held still at Landry’s order, waiting.

  Meanwhile, Cris switched to French and began whispering in Tilly’s ear, building her up, getting her primed and ready to go as soon as Landry let Cris start moving again.

  Didn’t mean Tilly couldn’t try to squirm against him, rocking her hips and trying to rub her clit against him.

  “Someone’s going to get a good, hard fucking,” Cris said. “Our sweet little Redbird, begging me for permission to come while I’m fucking her.”

  During Cris’ absence, Tilly had cursed the orgasm triggers that had been such an engrained part of their dynamic during their relationship.

  Now, with Landry as well, she’d been able to enjoy them once more, benefitting from the training Cris had done with her while her Master.

  Behind Cris, Tilly felt Landry start to work his cock up Cris’ ass. She knew because Cris always let out a cute little moan, and his cock started to twitch, when Landry got ready to fuck him.

  Landry had also switched over to his native tongue. “Two sweet pets are going to come tonight,” he said. “Cris, don’t you dare come before I tell you. Redbird, you may come as soon and often as you’d like.”

  Cris’ head had drooped a little. At that, he raised it and looked over his shoulder. “Why does she get that freedom?”

  Landry grabbed Cris by the hair and tipped his head back. “Because I said so.”

  Tilly felt herself drop a little deeper into subspace at the commanding tone of Landry’s voice.

  “Yes, Master,” Cris mumbled.

  Oh, he was already gone. She never dreamed she would ever find that sexy, but she did.

  Super-sexy.

  Tilly tried rocking against Cris again, but then he dropped his full weight onto her, pinning her to the bed. “If I have to wait, I’m going to make you wait a little longer.” Cris leaned in and started nipping the side of her neck.

  She mewed in pleasure, squirming against him—or trying to, at least.

  Finally, Landry had his cock buried inside Cris and made him sit up. “Start fucking our girl, Cris.” Cris immediate started thrusting, long, hard strokes she knew were not only bringing him pleasure from his cock being buried in her pussy, but from Landry’s cock in his ass as well.

  Landry looked over Cris’ shoulder and his gaze connected with hers. “Come, Redbird.”

  That’s all she needed. Between the ingrained trigger, the wonderful way Cris’ cock filled her, and the way his body was rubbing against her clit, there was no way she couldn’t obey him. She arched her back, clamping her lips together to stifle her loud, long moan of pleasure.

  “Good girl,” both men said, although Cris’ voice was sounding a wee bit strained from trying to hold back his own orgasm.

  “That’s my good boy,” Landry said. “I’ll let you fuck a couple of more out of her, then I’ll put a load into your ass and give you permission to come.”

  Tilly was still coming, one long, rolling, blissful release that seemed to have no end. Not as intense as the forced orgasm sessions with the vibrator, but still wonderful.

  She damn sure wasn’t complaining.

  Cris’ lower lip was caught under his teeth as he rolled his hips, thrusting against her, back onto Landry’s, impaling her and then himself with every stroke.

  Tilly held on and enjoyed the ri
de, glad for something, anything to capture and hold her mind and attention in this way, for this long. To quiet the thoughts rattling around inside her brain, noisily chipping away at her calm.

  Landry eventually took over the rhythm, grabbing Cris by the hips and driving his cock into the man’s ass, shoving him forward into Tilly even more and keeping her going. She knew Landry was close from the sound of his voice.

  “Get ready, boy,” he hoarsely ordered.

  Cris groaned, nearing the edge of his own self-control when Landry finally let out a satisfied moan.

  “Now,” Landry gasped. “Come for me.”

  Cris sped up and took several hard, deep thrusts before falling still on top of Tilly, his lips finding hers and kissing her even as his cock still twitched inside her, slowly growing limp.

  Tilly breathed in a deep, sated breath, scented with the men’s sweat and aroma of their lovemaking.

  She heard a slap against an ass as she felt Cris jump a little, making her smile.

  “Such a good boy you are,” Landry said in English as he untangled himself from the pile and headed for the bathroom. “Join me in the shower?”

  “Yes, Sir.” He kissed Tilly. “Want to join us?”

  She didn’t really need a shower now. She just wanted to curl up with them and fall asleep, but she wouldn’t say no to shower cuddling.

  “Sure,” she said, letting him help her out of bed.

  Landry cuddled Tilly between them in the shower. “Love you, pets,” he said.

  “Love you, Sir,” Tilly mumbled, struggling to stay awake.

  She felt Cris lean in and kiss Landry. “Love you, Master,” he said.

  “How come you don’t call me Master all the time, love?” Landry teased her. A familiar, playful jab.

  “Because I don’t always feel like it, Sir Fussypants.”

  That earned her a deep laugh. “Nothing like a switchy Domme nurse to keep me in line, eh, Cris?”

  “You’re telling me, Master. But I sure do love her.”

  Her smile widened. “Love you, too, Master.”

  “Hey,” Landry joked. “How come he got a Master?”

  “Because I felt like it.”