Screwed - Jayne Rylon Page 0,2

naked people beyond it for far longer. “Is it all for me?”

“Guess we missed you. Lucky bastard.” Mike’s mouth tipped up on one side in his characteristic wry grin as he spread his arms. “What are you hungry for first?”

“No offense, Kate, but it isn’t your world-famous mac and cheese.” Joe could ignore the rumbling of his stomach, but all of a sudden he couldn’t dismiss his need to be part of this group. To ground himself and remind himself where he truly belonged and to whom.

“Damn it. I told you guys he wouldn’t care if I ate without him.” Dave pouted. “Those buffalo wings were calling my name.”

“Just think, now you can work up an appetite and have room for more of them after you’re done.” Kayla distracted him with a brush of her hand across his mammoth pecs. His nipples were tight around the studs through them. After so many years together, Kayla’s penchant for piercings and tattoos—not to mention strolling around in the nude—had rubbed off on her husband.

“Yeah, we were saving you from yourself,” Neil teased, making Joe wince, since he needed them to do the same for him. “You wouldn’t want to be full of greasy chicken or in a food coma when it came to the good stuff. Isn’t there some kind of saying like that? No eating thirty minutes before an orgy?”

“I think they were talking about swimming.” Mike laughed, his stare growing a lot more serious and steamier as he looked at his wife, Kate. Even all these years later, any time they talked about a pool party, every one of the crew flashed back to the fateful summer day they’d first bonded with Kate and made her one of their own. That moment had changed the course of their lives, steering them in the direction that had made each of them unbelievably happy. Joe should be ashamed of his greed. “But I’m sure someone would be willing to take care of Kayla for you if you’d rather pig out.”

Dave practically purred as he stroked her hair. “You know, it might be worth it to watch her getting off on that. But I’m selfish. And starving. It’s been too long.”

He stared pointedly at Joe.

“Sorry,” he muttered, and they knew it wasn’t because he’d stayed longer than he’d intended in Middletown that day. It was more than that. Lately his head hadn’t been in the game and he’d passed up a few other opportunities for a good time that he otherwise would have jumped on.

He was hurting his friends, his lovers, and he didn’t intend to do that again that night. He planned to give them all of himself. As much as they would take.

“It’s fine.” Morgan was quick to shoot Dave a warning glare as she rose and passed him in order to cross to Joe. Her hair bounced, curling over her shoulders when she swiveled her head toward him again. The last thing Joe wanted was to come between the people he loved most. So he distracted her by opening his arms and wrapping her up in them.

“I missed you,” he whispered, drawing a deep breath and letting the scent of her shampoo and light perfume fill his lungs. She was right there with him, her arms going around him equally as tight until they made one complete unit standing there together.

Though the night would certainly become more involved, a simple hug was exactly what he craved from her then.

What he had, what he’d found, was so damn special that the fact that he couldn’t seem to appreciate it lately was making him feel like the shittiest partner in the world. He’d heard once that guilt was a useless emotion. Ironically, it didn’t seem benign. It felt paralyzing.

As if she could hear the struggle in his heart—with her cheek mashed to his chest—Morgan grabbed his wrist, guiding his hand into the V of her robe. He felt her breath hitch, and looked down in time to spot her lick her lower lip. Desire, simple and familiar, swelled inside him, pushing aside everything else.

Joe cupped Morgan’s face in his hands, hoping she didn’t notice his fingers trembling as he tipped it up. He lowered his head and sealed their mouths, drawing strength from her even as he fed her his own pent-up frustration, released by their mutual desire.

It was always like this. She had the power to transform even the most ragged of his emotions into something beautiful and sweet for them