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  “I’m sure. I trust all of you. If I didn’t, I have no business being in business with you. You’ve never formed a voting block against me before.”

  “That’s right.” Ken walked over and extended his hand to him. “Open-ended offer, you ever feel like taking me up on it.”

  “Or me,” Steve added. “I’d do ya.”

  Trace shook with him, the tension now eased once more. “Nothing against either of you but I’m not there yet. I’ll keep it in mind. And no, it doesn’t bother me if you all…whatever.”

  But later that night, as he lay in bed in the hotel suite with Hal softly snoring in the next bed, Trace couldn’t help but think what it might be like sucking Steve or Hal’s cocks. The night with the waitress had more than lingered in his mind—he’d fantasized about it countless times since then, pumped gallons of cum through his own hand wanking to it.

  Work first. Fucking around can’t happen until we’re finally up and running. I need to focus.

  Chapter Seven

  Over the next three weeks, Arden settled into a routine. School, work, and going over to the “war room,” as she was starting to think about it—because that’s what the men called it—to work with the men in the time that she’d been going to work at Kraiges Technologies. Once she finished her last day at the restaurant, she got her weekends back and worked only with the men.

  It also meant she’d been able to go to Venture the previous Saturday night. She’d hooked up with Landry, a well-respected Dom, and he’d given her a good ass-beating that had left her smiling the whole weekend.

  The men had moved out of the hotel and were now living in the house, even though the common areas still weren’t completely arranged the way they wanted them, and there was constant and friendly bickering over where everything should go in the kitchen. It seemed like the living room had been changed around every time she arrived. Some of their furniture was out in the garage, without room for it, and the large dining room table that had been in Ken’s apartment was set up in what was supposed to be the master bedroom. Except it was used more for meetings than it was for eating.

  They’d purchased a nice lanai set, too, and it wasn’t unusual for them to open the sliders in the war room and make it one large space, some of them working out there and some of them in the house, on the days it wasn’t too dang hot for that.

  And they’d invested in a high-end grill. Trace loved to grill, while Ken loved to bake. Both Steve and Hal were passable cooks, and the men always made sure she had lunch or dinner, or sometimes both depending on how long she was working and when she’d arrived.

  Then they broadsided her. While she sat cross-legged on the large ottoman on the lanai and was eating a bowl of pho, Steve plopped down on the sofa closest to her.

  “So when’s your graduation?”

  “I told you, I’m not going.” It was now a lie to say it wasn’t in her budget, because between the money she was saving on rent and utilities, and the pay she was making, she had the money.

  “That wasn’t my question.”

  Ken walked out. “We doing this now?”

  “Yeah,” Steve said.

  “Good.” He also sat down.

  “Doing what?” she asked.

  Ken smiled. “We’re going to your graduation.”

  She shivered in a good way because of how he said it. If she didn’t know any better, she’d label it Dom-tone. “But I’m not going.”

  “Oh, yes, you are. You tell us how much you need, and consider it our graduation gift to you. And we’re all going to cheer for you when you walk.”

  She hadn’t told them the details about her family, only that she wasn’t close to them. But the men had quickly grown to be more than employers, definitely into friend status.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she tried to protest, but felt it falling on deaf ears.

  Ken leaned in and arched an eyebrow at her. “Was that what I said?”

  She swallowed hard. “No,” she said, biting back the Sir that wanted to happily follow along after it.

  He smiled. “Then I expect you to tell us what you need before you leave here today. I’ll send you a direct deposit for it. And give us the time, date, and location so we can mark it on our calendars and be there.”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  “Hey, you’ve been a huge help. It’s the least we can do.”

  “I don’t feel like I’ve done much.” In fact, most of what she’d done was try to break what they’d built so far, per their request.

  “The last time, we screwed up and designed from the front-end back. Now we know the kinds of features and requirements we need to have in place that are difficult to integrate after the fact. So we’re building this from the ground up, the administration end first, before we start designing the front end.”

  “Have you decided what the site will be yet?”

  “No,” Steve said. “We’re still brainstorming that.” They knew it would be some sort of social media site, but they hadn’t yet decided where to focus it. They didn’t want to focus on music and bands this time around, because they’d already done that. And that was the least of their worries, though, because this time they were designing the backend so that they could actually market it to anyone who wanted a turn-key social media platform. All the client would have to do would be customize the graphics, layout, and demographic specifics. And they were developing a UI with options to allow a site creator to set it up on their own.

  The success of the live site would help determine the success of the delivered software solution, so getting it right was imperative.

  For the first time in her life since losing her Granny, she finally felt like a valued member of…well, not a family, but a team. The men were definitely like a family to each other, and she could feel that. More than just friends. But she’d never presume she could ever call herself that with them.

  Friends, though—definitely.

  * * * *

  The next Saturday, Arden headed to Venture. She’d arranged to bottom to Gilo’s wife, Abbey, since Landry wouldn’t be there tonight.

  What she would love to do was find a guy of her own, a Dom, didn’t even have to be a heavy player. The heavy play was fun, but she loved everything from sensual shibari to heavy impact, and everything in between. She didn’t need heavy play the way some people did.

  Or…maybe four guys who could probably rock her world.

  Yeah, no. They were her bosses. Plus Ken was gay.

  Can still fantasize about them.

  That she could—and did. To the point she’d broken down and bought a new vibrator because she’d worn her old one out.

  Every once in a while she got little flashes from the guys, little hints of a dominant personality, and it always tweaked her fantasies later.

  For tonight, she wanted the stress relief of a good, hard beating.

  Later, she’d go home and use her vibrator and think about “the guys.” Ken, Trace, Steve, and Hal. All of them gorgeous, all of them with different personalities. She’d been a little mortified yesterday when she’d had trouble with her new Kindle Fire. She’d been trying to e-mail herself a documentation PDF the guys wanted her to read through, but she couldn’t find it despite sending it to herself four times and confirmed she’d whitelisted her e-mail address in her Kindle account.

  Hal had offered to help her, and before she knew it, he was playfully teasing her about her e-book selections, many of them ménages and a lot of them BDSM fiction. She’d suffered the red cheeks, though, because he figured out how to access the file for her and apparently could tell she didn’t want to discuss the rest of her library.

  She had her own makings of the perfect reverse harem setup, and just her luck, they were totally off-limits.

  My freaking luck.

  Overall, she couldn’t complain, though. The pay was good, they were nice guys, and she enjoyed the work.

  Tonight, however, she needed to shut her brain off.

&
nbsp; As she stripped completely naked and climbed onto the bench, Abbey leaned in. “Any last requests?”

  “Just what we talked about. The more marks, the better.”

  “You got it.”

  Gilo was apparently going to top Abbey when they finished, because instead of being dressed down in his gimp outfit, he wore jeans and black boots and stood watching from where he leaned against a nearby wall, arms crossed over his chest and an amused smirk on his face.

  Heck, if I give him some girl-on-girl fantasy fodder, good for him.

  She liked Gilo and he seemed like a nice guy, but without the couple saying as much, Arden had received the impression from him and Abbey that Abbey was territorial about who he played with. Meaning no one but her.

  And Arden was fine with that.

  All she cared about was the way her ass was already starting to sting as Abbey used a lightweight acrylic paddle on her, quickly throwing her into subspace. Arden didn’t know how long she lay there enjoying every impact, even if it hurt like a motherhumper. Finally, Abbey ended with a few smacks from what Arden knew was likely a cane before draping a fleece throw over her.

  Arden kept her eyes closed and surfed the endorphins. She was aware of Abbey and Gilo talking nearby in hushed tones, and sounds like she was cleaning and putting away her implements. Finally, Arden took a deep breath and sat up.

  Abbey gave her a smile. “Better?”

  “Yeah. Thank you.”

  “Hey, I had fun, too. He wasn’t in the mood to get his ass beaten tonight, so it worked out for everyone.”

  Arden stretched, feeling the satisfying way her back and neck popped and creaked as she did. She pulled the fleece throw around her and grabbed her clothes so Abbey could clean and vacate the bench.

  In one of the changing alcoves, Arden looked at her ass in the mirror and smiled. Yep, she’d have bruises for several days, at least.

  They’d feel even more awesome as she rode her bike to and from work and class.

  She hung around for a while, chatting with friends and watching Gilo and Abbey play. She wasn’t the kind of sub who needed aftercare following a scene, unless she scened with someone she was in a relationship with. Then she loved cuddling after and enjoying the wash of sensations shutting her noisy brain off for a while.

  It was almost eleven when she finally said her good-byes and grabbed her helmet and backpack for the ride home.

  Yep, she felt every bounce, every dip in the road, and smiled to herself as she grew wetter and wetter. By the time she’d parked under the pole barn and made it inside, she was so horny she could barely stand it. After stripping, she grabbed her vibrator and imagined it was Ken or Steve who’d been spanking her, maybe while she sucked Trace’s dick and Hal banged her.

  When the orgasm slammed into her, she buried her face in her pillow and moaned, gasping.

  Sated.

  Finally.

  As she caught her breath and reality crept back in, she focused.

  I have to be careful.

  She didn’t want to give the guys a weird vibe that she’d been fantasizing about them. She couldn’t lose this job, not when she had too much to gain. For the first time in her adult life, she wasn’t worried about…anything. Her grades were good, she’d graduate on time, she had a stable place to live and money in the bank.

  Nothing she could do could jeopardize that.

  Nothing.

  Chapter Eight

  Saturday night, the guys ordered pizza and stayed home. Later, once everyone else had gone to bed, Hal floated naked on his back in the pool with the lights off. It allowed him to stare up at the clear sky and watch the stars.

  Fuck, I’m lonely.

  Having Arden around was a special sort of torture. She was sweet and adorable and he was definitely attracted to her.

  Yet, she was off-limits.

  Totally.

  Then again…

  There was another option. Except he felt weird just out of the blue knocking on Ken’s door and asking for a blowjob.

  Or…more.

  He startled when the sliders from the dining room opened and Ken stepped out onto the lanai. They stared at each other for a long, silent moment before Ken walked over.

  “Whatchoo doin’ out here?”

  “Thinking. Getting pruny. Horny as hell.”

  Ken seemed to be considering something. Then he shoved his boxers down and off and sat on the edge of the pool, his thighs spread wide. “Well, I can take care of the third thing for you, if you want.”

  Hal shoved the thinking part of his brain out the door and locked it. He swam over to Ken and stared up at him for a long moment before taking him up on the offer. He’d never blown a guy before, but knew what he liked and decided to start there.

  He wrapped his hand around the base of Ken’s cock and slowly explored the head with his lips, teasing, tasting, enjoying the way Ken’s breath sucked in sharp as he did.

  “Yeeeaaah, buddy. Like that. Get me off now, and then I’ll take you to bed and make your head explode.”

  That was a deal he could get behind without hesitation. He sucked more of his friend’s cock between his lips, slowly jacking his cock at the base because he knew no way he could deep-throat his thick length.

  Ken lifted his legs and draped them over Hal’s shoulders, one hand on Hal’s head and the other braced on the pool deck behind him. “Fuck, that’s perfect. Drain me dry, then I’m going to get you off however you want me to.”

  Hal cradled Ken’s sac with his other hand as he sucked and jacked him. He wasn’t trying to get him off fast, wanting it to last and fully into whatever this turned out to be.

  If it meant an end to his dry spell without having to worry about a psycho stalker, hell yeah, he’d be willing to keep doing it.

  He could tell Ken was trying not to shove him deep onto his cock from the way his hand kept flexing on the back of his head, so he picked up the pace a little, heavy sucks as he pulled off and squeezing the shaft with his hand on every in-stroke.

  “Oh, fuck yeah, that’s perfect. That.”

  Hal kept it up, wanting to make it feel good for him. Apparently he did, because before long the tastes of pre-cum turned into several spurts of cum as Ken let out a long, low moan. His own cock throbbed more from the sounds his friend was making, and he couldn’t wait for the second half of this permutation.

  “Yeeeaaah. Fuck yeah.”

  When Ken’s hand released his head, Hal looked up at him to find Ken grinning. He untangled himself from Hal and leaned in to kiss him. “Get your ass out of the pool and let’s take this to my bedroom, hmm?”

  Hal bolted for the stairs.

  * * * *

  Trace was almost asleep when he heard voices out on the pool deck and realized it was Ken and Hal.

  Then Ken made a noise that definitely wasn’t talking.

  Oh, boy.

  From the soft, rhythmic splashes he heard, he could only imagine what was going on out there. Once that ended, there was a brief moment of quiet before a slider opened and closed, then someone or someones entered Ken’s room and closed the door.

  It didn’t take long to answer that question either. Minutes later, Trace lay in bed and listened to Hal howling his lungs out across the hallway.

  Whatever Ken was doing to the man, apparently Hal was good with it.

  Real good.

  And apparently Ken was really good at doing it, too.

  He couldn’t remember Hal making that much noise with the waitress that time, much less when he’d masturbated when they were all living together.

  His own cock rose, interested and curious and trying to talk Trace into going and joining them.

  He heard Ken’s door open, the sound of Steve’s voice, then the door closed and Hal’s moans were suddenly muffled.

  Trace closed his eyes, which didn’t help because he imagined Hal now being stuffed at both ends and loving every second of it.

  Fuck.

  Me.

&n
bsp; Why couldn’t he break past that fear?

  They’re my friends. I fuck this up, it could ruin our business.

  Obviously it wasn’t a problem for the other three men, so the common denominator was him.

  He couldn’t even deny he’d had his own fantasies, especially about Ken. They’d grown more frequent ever since that night the four of them had taken on the waitress.

  Why am I a chickenshit?

  * * * *

  Steve was nearly asleep when Hal started in. At first, he thought maybe Hal had his earbuds in, and that he was going to have to yell at the guy to turn down his porn so he would realize he was making too much noise as he wanked, when Steve realized the noises were coming from Ken’s bedroom.

  Well, now.

  He thought about knocking, but it sounded like Hal’d hit his groove and he didn’t want to interrupt.

  Not like that, anyway.

  He tried the knob and, finding it turned in his hand, defaulted to his usual agreement with Ken.

  Unlocked meant company welcome.

  Hal lay sprawled face-up on Ken’s bed, his cock down Ken’s throat and Ken’s finger up his ass.

  Ah. That explained the noises.

  “Care for company?” Steve asked, his cock hard and tenting his shorts.

  Hal looked up and wore a glazed expression, a man deep in rut and needing release in the worse sort of way.

  A man willing to do anything to earn it.

  Ken lifted his other hand and waved him in as Hal nodded.

  Steve shut the door behind him and was fully naked by the time he climbed onto the bed. He straddled Hal and pulled a pillow under his head to put him at the perfect angle and height.

  Hal’s mouth was already open as Steve aimed his cock at it, and Hal’s moans grew muffled as Steve slowly fucked his mouth.

  “That’s more like it,” Steve hoarsely said. “Dammit, if I’d known you were this fucking loud when you’re getting some the right way, we would’ve been tag-teaming you long before now.”

  Hal let out a long, almost pitiful moan Steve fully recognized as Ken teasing him. Probably edging him, because the guy was sadistic when it came to that. There was hard and fast, and then there was long and slow. Plenty of times Ken had him begging to do anything for relief, which usually ended up with Ken’s cock balls-deep in his ass after Ken swallowed his load.