Royal: A Sci-Fi Romance (The Jekh Saga Book 5) Read online

  “Faster if you do it. You’re her husband. I’ll vouch for her in whatever way is required.”

  Luke shrugged. “Can do it tomorrow, I guess. Nobody’s working right now.”

  Autumn cleared her throat and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t keep looking up at him because she didn’t understand his teasing expression. Of course, she thought it was meant for her. The whole ordeal had to be nothing but one huge joke. “I was going to go do some work.”

  Neither men said anything for so long that Autumn had to open her eyes to see what the distraction was. They were just looking at each other, wearing no particular expressions that she could see, but something must have passed between them because suddenly, the sandwich came apart.

  She stood, bereft of them, and then watched one man scoop up her tote and the other her bag of clothes. They nudged her into the cart.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  They squeezed in with the bags, their long legs crowding every bit of available space.

  Luke closed the door and then pressed the button for Owen’s house. “Got an hour before dinner. I don’t plan on missing dinner. Trigrian’s making ribs for the first time. Highly experimental on his part, but I seriously doubt Court and Erin are going to let him mess them up.”

  “What are we supposed to do with an hour?” Alex asked, shifting his posture a little more away from the door and closer to Autumn.

  Not that she minded at all. Being wedged between the two of them wasn’t at all like being stuck between a couple of man-spreaders on the subway who made themselves as big as possible by spreading their knees wide into the space of the people on either side. Being between Luke and Alex was more like being enveloped in a safe cocoon. She could bloom there if given time. But, she didn’t have time, and she couldn’t have them. They belonged to each other, and she belonged to…

  Well, The Barrens, maybe.

  As she idly fidgeted with her wedding ring, Luke peered out at the farm and said, “It’s a, what, five-minute-ride to the main house from Owen’s? Assume ten minutes for a hasty shower and a generous five minutes up front to get all the clothes off. That actually gives us forty minutes, but I’m efficient when I want to be. I just won’t tease as much.”

  “Tease who?” came Autumn’s, strained wispy voice.

  Luke shrugged. “Not sure yet. I’m kinda tired, so it’ll either be A or A plus B, and possibly a little comedown diddling while watching A and B together.”

  “Huh?”

  Alex snorted. “He wants to fuck you. He’s on the fence about whether or not he has the stamina to deal with me today.”

  Luke chuckled. “Do you mind if I don’t?”

  “There’ll be other times. It’s not like we have to do everything all at once.”

  “Wouldn’t have time to recover from it in forty minutes, anyway.” Luke furrowed his brow. “I have no idea how people on this farm manage to get out of bed on time in the mornings.”

  “Children,” Alex murmured. “I hear children kill sex drives.”

  “Yeah, that’ll suck, I guess.”

  “Wait—” Autumn started, but her objection was quickly cut short by Alex’s hand roving up her thigh.

  “I suppose it doesn’t matter so much if I don’t have legitimate issue,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “Because the two of you aren’t married,” Luke offered helpfully. “Since you’re married to me, remember? If he knocks you up, the product would, for purposes of royal lineage, be illegitimate.”

  “Um?”

  Children?

  Children had never been on her radar. Other people’s children, certainly, but she’d never encountered anyone she’d wanted to have any with. She’d never considered even having one on her own because she couldn’t imagine what that would look like in her stupidly sterile life.

  Luke snaked his hand up the front of her blouse and plucked at her nipple.

  She tried to nudge his hand away—not because she disliked the sting, but because she liked the sensation too much. He had a way of making situations escalate quickly, and she needed to think. “Luke, I—”

  “Christ.” Alex laughed darkly and casually pinned her wrists to her sides as Luke continued to fondle. “Can you imagine how a Ray-Hauge bastard would make my mother’s head explode?”

  “You’re so fucking bad, Duke.”

  Autumn’s foot, as if directly connected to the nerves in her breast, tapped violently against the floor. She pulled her lips between her teeth and moaned quietly as she tried to writhe away from the two of them. There was no space.

  “It almost makes giving up my freedom worth the trouble,” Alex said. He leaned in behind Autumn, as Luke did. She couldn’t see the act, but they must have kissed, and she was pinned in between them. Not like an afterthought, but like something being saved for later. The attention she was certainly about to get frightened her because she didn’t know what it meant. Or at least, she wanted to tell herself that. She knew what it meant. It meant that the two men had come to some accord and that they weren’t going fight about her. They weren’t going to fight with her, either. They were going to make love to her, and she’d just have to lie there and take it.

  The cart came to a stop, but they didn’t immediately exit. Luke had transferred his hot, warm mouth to her neck and had her shirt yanked up over her breasts, exposing her to anyone who cared to look, but there were only the two of them. Probably the only two people who mattered. They were the ones who were making her life so damned messy.

  “We’re going to be late for dinner,” Alex said.

  Groaning, Luke pulled away and grabbed one of Autumn’s bags.

  Alex took the other and pulled Autumn out as he exited. “Maybe we can shave some time off the undressing part.”

  Autumn quickened her pace to keep up with his long stride, tugging her bra down over her breasts as she went.

  Going to go along with this. One time can’t hurt, just to have the memory.

  But then she’d have to tell them. They could have each other and she’d go away, and she’d never bother them again. Jekh was a huge planet with plenty of natural and unnatural chaos. Given enough time, they’d probably even forget her name and that she’d been there.

  “That door unlocked?” Luke asked. “If not, I know another way in.”

  Alex tried the knob. “Yes.” He dropped Autumn’s bag in the foyer and didn’t lose a beat climbing up the steps with Luke right after them.

  They didn’t even turn on the lights. Alex pulled her into what must have been a bedroom, and apparently, he could see well enough to unfasten the few of her buttons that hadn’t already come loose, and Luke could see well enough to find her feet on the first try and take off her shoes.

  “Passive, isn’t she?” Alex murmured.

  Autumn furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to speak some objection—any objection—but before it could pass her lips, he yanked her camisole over her head.

  “I-I’m not passive,” she insisted.

  Luke picked her up by the waist, nuzzling her neck as he held her against him. Hard body. Cock protruding against her backside.

  Oh, my God.

  Alex unfastened the button of her pants and efficiently pulled them down. “You’re certainly not putting up much of a struggle.”

  She blinked a few times to clear her head.

  Didn’t work.

  She wasn’t struggling.

  Should I be? Do they like that?

  “You want me… To…”

  Luke set her back on her feet.

  For a moment, she stood alone, the cool air stimulating her aroused flesh and making the fine hairs stand on end even more. She could only see glimpses of them in the dim room, but that was enough. She could see sizes of them, the general shapes of them. Two gorgeous men who could have had anyone, and yet they were circling around her with intentions of pulling her into bed with them.

  “I mean, I could try a little harder
if…” She swallowed. “If that’s what you like.”

  Luke grunted. Again, he picked her up, now naked and so warm, and carried her several feet. He laid her gently on the bed. “You can if you want to, but that game doesn’t really do much for me when the person on the submissive end is a woman. It’s different with Alex. I can’t hurt him. You’ve gotta give us some clues that you’re okay with this, though.”

  She took his hand and put it between her legs. She was wet. Felt it. Smelled it. Wasn’t going to be ashamed by it. After all, they were the ones who’d started the drama. She was simply complying without complaint…for perhaps the first time in her life.

  He chuckled against her lips and kissed her. Softly, slowly, tenderly.

  Some pathetic pleading sound fell out of her open mouth and her body went limper on the bed.

  “How are we doing on time, Alex? We got time for a little warm-up, or should we go ahead and get started with the sword play?”

  “I wouldn’t risk it. Meals here are dog-eat-dog. I doubt anyone will be squirreling away plates for us, and remember—we still need to shower.”

  “How dare you be so reasonable?”

  “I suppose my terribly expensive education is good for something after all.”

  “Mm-hmm. You always keep the sex right on track. I’d pay your tuition for that. Come on.”

  Autumn didn’t know who he was referring to with that order until he climbed onto the bed behind her, tugged her up against his chest, and reached down to grab the undersides of her knees. He pulled her legs up and wide open, and had the lights been on, she might have died from mortification.

  “Tell the room to turn on the lights,” Alex said. “The computer doesn’t understand my accent.”

  “No!” Autumn yelped, and tried to sit up.

  “I want to see.”

  “As much as I’d like to see her taking every inch of you and to watch her expressions as she works through the different stages of ‘is his cock going to break me or not?,’ if we can see, we’re going to get distracted.”

  “Why didn’t we wait until after dinner?”

  “Dunno. We could certainly pick up where we left off later in a different bed. I imagine Owen and Ais will want Michael to get some sleep tonight.”

  Chuckling, Alex crawled onto the bed and paused right in front of her. She couldn’t see what he was doing kneeling in front of her, but she could feel the warmth his body put off.

  She heard the rip and the bed shifted as Alex did.

  He moved his hands in front of his crotch in smoothing motions.

  Condom, she realized.

  “Precluding the Ray-Hauge bastard,” she muttered quietly.

  Leaning over, planting a hand on either side of hers and Luke’s body, he said, “I only meant bastard in the technical sense. I wouldn’t treat any child of mine as unwanted.”

  She swallowed. “I’m…sure you’d make an interesting sort of father, being something of a pirate as you—” He silenced her with the press of his thick cock head against her entrance, and her words lost steam. “I… You can’t just…”

  Oh, God.

  He chuckled and eased in a bit more. “The pirating will just have to be a hobby. I’ll be making lots of lifestyle changes, transforming into a leisure-seeking layabout.”

  “Uh…” She squirmed between the two of them again. Her brain was telling her that she should probably back away from the invasion between her legs because the pressure was mounting far too quickly, but she couldn’t move. And her body—traitorous thing that it was—was flowering for him, relaxing and drawing him in more.

  “I’m sure you and Oreva will have numerous business schemes running as soon as you make sense of your post-royal finances,” Luke said. He lay back and flattened Autumn’s body on top of him. “You in, Duke?”

  Alex made a choked, whimpering sound. “Mostly.”

  “Mostly?” she squeaked.

  Luke laughed and wrapped her legs around Alex’s waist. “Told you. I had a hunch that it’d been a while for you.”

  “Don’t tease me.”

  “I’m not teasing you, sweetheart. I’m just making sure you get taken care of.”

  She furrowed her brow. Is that what he’s doing? “Taking…care of me?”

  With more of Alex’s substantial, muscular weight atop her, she could barely expand her lungs enough to draw in a deep breath, but she didn’t want to chase him off.

  He seemed to be pausing to get his bearings, waiting for her body to accommodate him. Trying not to end the joining too quickly, judging by the things he was whispering to himself.

  “Funny how that worked out, hmm?” Luke rubbed up and down her arms, adding a layer of sweet sensuality to the mix that helpfully offset the more carnal sensations happening lower down. “You came to Jekh not really wanting a man at all, and you’re stuck with two.”

  “Stuck with me… You don’t have to be…”

  Alex plowed in as far as he could go, and she shouted, “Fuck.”

  “Don’t get her too wound up, Alex, or she might not let me in when you’re done.”

  “Usually, making someone come is the goal.”

  “And she will. Save some for me, is all I’m saying. Until we figure out what her tolerance is for multiple partners.”

  “You don’t have to be stuck with me,” she blurted as Alex withdrew somewhat. She’d had to get the words out. She’d had to speak them while she had the chance, even if the timing was bad, but she regretted them as soon as they left her mouth.

  “What are you talking about?” Luke asked.

  Oh, God.

  She clapped a hand over her eyes.

  “Alex, ease off her a little.”

  He did. He pulled out all the way and must have knelt back because his weight completely receded.

  “What are you saying, Autumn?” Luke asked.

  “Just that…” She took a deep breath and gathered the words in her mind. “I don’t want to come here and destroy things. I can be ruthless sometimes when I feel like I’m being fucked over, but you’re not doing that, are you? You didn’t… I mean, you didn’t bring me here to fuck me over. You were just looking for something, and maybe I wasn’t the right thing, but here I am anyway, and what I’m telling you is that you can have each other and I won’t…bother you. You don’t have to try so hard to like me. I know that’s an unreasonable expectation for pretty much anyone.”

  She felt immeasurably lighter for having spewed that vat of word soup. She felt clean and absolved, as though she’d laid bare her soul and confessed all the sins that had been weighing her down. Now they could all move on. They could get past the inconvenience she’d brought into all their lives, and move toward productive things. Toward useful things.

  Neither man said anything. In fact, they held still for so long that Autumn began to wonder if there was some telepathy happening between the two of them that she needed to be worried about.

  But then Luke cleared his throat. “Alex, baby…”

  “Yes, Luke.”

  “Any of the words my wife just said make sense to you?”

  “A few. Mostly incoherent, though. Odd, given her usual capacity for eloquence, however uncivil.”

  Autumn sighed.

  “Sounded to me, though, like she intends to leave,” Alex said.

  “I see. Help me remember, will you? Did we ever tell her to go away?”

  Alex snorted. “Not recently.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t like us,” Luke said.

  “Stop it,” Autumn said.

  “Maybe we’re not attractive enough or something. Can’t really hold a candle to the Jekhan guys.”

  “Stop.” She gave Luke a swat that was about as effectual as a gnat doing a dive-bomb down an elephant’s throat. The man was a statue. “You know that’s not it.”

  “Then what?” Alex asked. “If anyone should be put out here, I think it should be me. After all, Luke brought you here because I couldn’t give him what
he wanted. But I’m going to, and I’m willing to compromise here because this place lets us. Why say no? Why push people away when they have something you need?”

  She swallowed and pulled her hand away from her face. “You need something from me? Besides my money, I mean.”

  “I don’t need your money, sweetheart. Really. I appreciate you offering, but I’ll get by. I was thrilled that you’d defend me after everything that happened. You’ve got a big heart. You don’t have to pretend that you don’t.”

  “It’s easier to pretend. People take advantage of me.”

  “We’re not going to take advantage of you,” Luke said, smoothing his hands down her sides again. “We’re going to find our balance, just like any other trio here. We’ll figure out what this is supposed to look like for us, and we’ll tweak, and make accommodations as we need to. We’ll do everything we can to make this amazing, but you have to be a hundred percent on board.”

  “Your family hates me.”

  “Because they don’t know you. That’ll change, right?”

  Dragging her tongue across her dry lips, she nodded gravely. She wanted what they were offering—wanted people to love her in all the different ways love came. The only thing holding her back was, for the first time, herself.

  “O-okay,” she whispered. She reached forward and found the sides of Alex’s arms to guide him back down to her.

  “Yes?” he queried.

  She nodded. Realizing he probably couldn’t see her in the dark, she added a weak, “Yes,” and looped her arms around his neck.

  He slid back into her, his breath falling out in a coarse rasp, his body tensing over hers.

  “You don’t have to last,” she whispered.

  “Right,” he said with a breath of relief. “Next time.”

  She hoped there’d be a next time.

  He was surprisingly lovely and tender, and she didn’t know if his cautiousness was due more to her long dry spell or his fear that he’d come too soon, but he was a proficient lover—experienced, obviously.

  “You keep tensing,” he whispered and rocked his hips in a way that had his cock going breathtakingly deep, and her body reflexively bowing away from Luke.

  She arched up to meet Alex’s thrusts the best she could. The friction was delicious, and he provided a perfect fullness that had her insides thrumming. “I can’t help it.” She swallowed hard and notched her fingertips into the rigid muscles of his back. “I like being able to predict things, and I just don’t…”