“But Braxen’s here now,” she reminded Loren, referring to her nephew. “And I don’t regret him. Neither does Rosalie.” Braxton grimaced suddenly. “I just wish I could say the same about her husband, Pete. Apparently, my sister’s talking to the atheist she met online again.”
“That’s kind of my point, babe.” Loren flashed her a patient smile. “Baby sis hasn’t made up her mind yet. You can still get through to her.”
Braxton stiffened. I could see the struggle not to hope in her eyes. “How?” she eventually asked him anyway.
Loren’s eyes returned to me, and this time, they held. It only took a moment for me to read his mind.
It took even less time for me to decide.
A door slammed behind me, and I flinched from the unexpected sound as keys scraped inside the lock before I heard the click from it turning.
“How long do we have?” Houston asked cryptically. I knew it was him that took my arm a moment later and began steering me forward.
“Not long,” Loren muttered. It was his birthday today, and for his present, he asked me to wear a blindfold.
I drew in a nervous breath.
Hopefully, today wouldn’t be a repeat of Houston’s birthday two and a half months ago. We had to delay the tour again while my brain healed, and it wasn’t scheduled to resume until the end of summer—pending my doctor’s approval, of course.
I was already back to feeling normal. Mostly.
There were still no phantom smells or tastes, but as promised, I was adjusting. I was learning how to identify my emotions without my superpowers, as Loren dubbed them. Emily’s attack had changed us all, but it wouldn’t define what we became.
Suddenly, my brows dipped, but not from that memory. From another.
Why did this place smell so familiar?
I recognized that sweet, warm, and woodsy incense. It only grew stronger as the wooden floor creaked underneath my feet. I was being led…somewhere.
I still wasn’t allowed to see.
We’d flown three hours to get here, drove for thirty minutes once we landed, and the entire time I kept my blindfold on for them.
Houston, Loren, and Rich.
The four of us rarely separated for longer than a couple of hours since I was released from the hospital. Where one went, we all went.
“Careful.”
I was slowly led up three short steps.
“Do I get to see now?” I asked once we finally stopped.
The floor was softer here. I could feel the thick carpeting underneath my feet, and for whatever reason, my mind conjured red fibers.
“Not yet,” Rich whispered.
And then the buttons keeping my dress together were slowly being undone.
I knew by the clove soap that Houston was the one who came up behind me and peeled the tight dress from my shoulders once Rich had finished with the buttons.
Appreciative groans echoed around the room.
“I take it you like it?” I asked them with a small smile. I may not have known what they were up to or where they’d taken me, but I knew where the day would eventually lead.
Houston’s hands fell on my hips—I knew because his fingers were softy teasing the light purple lace between my thigh and center—and then he kissed my shoulder. “Yes.”
“And we’re going to show you how much in a minute,” Rich warned.
My legs trembled even as my head swiveled as if I could actually see through the pitch-black cloth. It only heightened my other senses. “Where’s Loren?”
“Over here, baby.” My head turned in the direction we’d come from—toward the smile in his voice. The birthday boy wasn’t standing as close as Houston and Rich, and I wondered why. “They’re going to play with you first,” he announced, reading my mind. “I want you ready for me.”
I drew in a sharp breath. Ready for what exactly?
Unfortunately, I was too tempted by the unknown to ask.
Houston removed the corset pushing my breasts damn near to my chin while Rich disposed of my boots, garter, and panties.
As usual, they left the socks that reached my thighs.
Rich, who must have been kneeling, kissed and sucked on the skin there while Houston palmed my bare breasts with both hands from behind. I could feel his erection against my spine. Eager to get his thick cock inside me, I moaned as I turned my head toward him.
He didn’t need much more convincing to kiss me.
Feeling the pad of Jericho’s fingers push between my lips below, I began to squirm in Houston’s arms. Jericho caressed me—my clit, my entrance—no part of my pussy